Learning & Teaching
by SAJ-Man
Summary: A self-indulgent fic about two of the Babylon Birds. This starts before Riders and will go all the way through to Free Riders. A story about two opposites slowly but surely attracting each other. Storm X Wave and rated T for mild swearing.
1. Pre-Riders Part 1

_Guys I just want to be a shipping trash. I never get to be shipping trash. XDDDD This is just gonna be a self-fulfilling story, I haven't found many Storm X Wave fics so I wanted to make one that I would be proud of. So thanks in advance for reading it. ^^_

 _P.S. When Storm is talking, just think big New York guy accent. How it looks is how it sounds. XDDD_

* * *

The place was guarded. Heavily guarded. Motion sensors, surveillance cameras, armed guards, the whole nine yards. What's worse is the place itself was built like a fortress, the vents were so small, even a kid couldn't crawl in there. The sewage system was locked up tight behind some thick concrete. And what's worse, the police were coming to help keep the surrounding 5 blocks empty.

There was no way in or out that anyone wouldn't see them coming a mile away and they didn't have the firepower or the time to force their way in.

So it's a good thing they weren't going in.

The plan was simple; if stealing the jewels while they were in the museum was next to impossible, then they would just hit the trucks carrying them on the way to the museum. Easy.

Well, it would have been if the cops weren't helping with the transportation of the jewels. But Jet declared that's what made it "more fun". Wave was clearly not amused and nagged Jet about thinking heists all the way through , but went along with the plan anyway. And Storm, being the loyal lackey, decided Jet was right. This was going to be fun.

The Babylon Rogues were never ones to shy away from dangerous jobs, this one was no different. Okay, this was a little different, the cops would already be on the scene at the start of this job, but Storm wasn't concerned at all. The Babylon Rogues were the greatest thieves in the world. Nothing tripped them up. So adding a little danger was just like putting extra cheese on a burger: it was going to taste a lot more savory when it was all over with.

And as the thieving trio descended on their target, the all too familiar feeling of excitement and slight nervousness filled Storm's gut. Jet barked a few orders over his shoulder at him and Wave, and without hesitation, both of them moved in separate directions; Wave was going to the front of the truck to keep the truck in motion, but set it on a loop, keeping it on the freeway and away from it's destination. Jet was going to the top of the truck to cut open the roof and grab all the jewels being carried, careful not to set off any alarms or let the guards inside the truck catch him.

Storm's job was probably the simplest: distraction. He would be the target for the cops following the truck, while Wave kept the cops in front occupied with the looping directions, Storm had to lure the cops in the rear away from the truck so Jet could work and escape without being chased afterward. It was the simplest role, but it was equally as important as his teammates' roles. As soon as he got them on his trail, the rest of the heist could succeed.

With expert maneuvering, Storm hovered to the side of the police escorts, quickly punching the passenger's window, snatching out the radio and the siren controls, and tossing them out the patrol car. The police officers screamed like little girls when he suddenly smashed the window, the glass shattering out of nowhere and Storm's massive arm reaching in so fast caught them by total surprise. The driver nearly steered into the dividing column to his left.

Storm chuckled a bit as the swerving patrol car caused a chain reaction of all the cars behind it to slam on the breaks and swiftly turn the wheels to help the sudden stop become even more sudden. Taking this opportunity, Storm flew to the other patrol cars and ripped their radios and sirens out of the dashboards. In a matter of seconds, all 10 police cars were out of their radios and sirens and the truck carrying the gems was far beyond their reach.

"NOW LESSEE WHO CAN PLAY FOLLOW DUH LEADER, BOYS!" shouted Storm in a deep, brutish, and playful baritone voice. As the police officers finally gathered their bearings and prepared to open fire on the enormous bird, a light tap of his heel on the footprint of his board had the device's engine humming, a burst of orange light blast out of its exhaust, and Storm went zooming off the freeway, like a lightning bolt.

It took the patrol cars a couple seconds to get off the freeway to properly give chase to Storm, but he was kind enough to wait for them at the top of the exit ramp. As soon as they got in shooting range of him though, he was blasting forward again. Storm slipped his goggles on as the chase continued to the streets of the city, moving as fast as possible through the night traffic. His giant fingers twisted the left goggle, earning him a slight click as the communicator in his eyewear came online.

"I got 'em hot on mah tail feathers, boss! Yah good ta go!" he assured happily, before quickly flying over a minivan going a little slower than the other cars Storm was whizzing past. He wasn't trying to hurt anyone after all. Well, anyone who wasn't a cop, who he knew were still trying to get a clear shot on him.

"Good, keep them chasing you, but don't go too fast, you don't want to lose them just yet. I'm cutting my way in now. Wave, how's the front looking?" Jet quickly communicated. He was tense, but in an excited way. He was focused and determined, Storm could feel it in his voice. That was the best side of his boss Jet. His dedication to keeping the Babylon Rogues on top was one of his most admirable qualities. But he just realized Jet's instruction for him, he had given the cops a run for their money, they had almost lost sight of him.

"Gimme about 3 more seconds here and I'll- yah!" exclaimed Wave before a loud metallic clank rang out. Before Jet or Storm could ask what that was, Wave popped back on the coms.

"Sorry, the driver woke back up. Guess I didn't whack him hard enough the first time. Anyway, route is being changed and set on a loop now. And the 5-O are none the wiser up here" she finished briskly. Storm could hear the faint echos of typing as she spoke. A smile crept to his face as he slowed down slightly so the police could catch up (geez they were slow. The city really should give the cops better cars, this had to be kind of embarrassing for them).

Wave was always more violent when they were on a job, she was tense too, but she expressed it with pure aggression more than excitement. The excitement for her was counting up the goods in the comfort of their home after the job. But as a bullet darted past his arm, Storm supposed this was the most exciting part for him.

Not the fact that he was very close to fatal bodily harm, no that wasn't exciting, that was just a little scary. No the best part for him was knowing that he was keeping danger away from Jet and Wave. He wasn't the smartest or the sneakiest or the fastest, but he was definitely the strongest. And it was his job to keep his team safe. So knowing they weren't on the police's radar at all, right then, excited him.

"Alright, you two keep working, I'm about to break in" Jet said in a slightly squawking, tense voice. The hawk was about to engage the guards in the truck and he needed total concentration. Too bad Storm and Wave were still on the line.

"I wouldn't call this work, personally. I'd call it, flying by the seat of my pants, it's got a more accurate feel to it" Wave said sarcastically.

"Whadda ya, scared? Ya doubtin' duh Boss, Wave?" Storm teased.

"No, I'm doubting that this will fool the boys in blue right in front of me and I'm definitely doubting you'll lose the ones chasing you when it's time to go. You'll just bring them our way and we'll all have them up our butts for hours" she retorted coldly.

"Well yah wrong, I can lose deese guys anytime I want, understand?" Storm assured confidently as he weaved through some bullets aimed at him from said cops.

"Just like you lost them on the Emerald Town job? Oh wait, you actually didn't lose them on that job, if memory serves. Hmmm..." mentioned Wave in a coy, mischievous way.

"Dat wuz cuz you wuz messing wit duh cameras ta make it look like a gang 'ah hippos robbed duh joint, 'stead ah us! I hadda come back ta get tha cops you led ta tha place, cuz ya prank wuz takin' too long!" Storm reminded her harshly. He was getting a little heated now. Wave was always pawning off her mistakes on him, it really got on his nerves.

"Well if you remember, it was hilarious! You choked on juice when you watched it afterwards, ya blithering idiot!" Wave said, attempting to shift the focus on what she did being wrong back to Storm being an idiot.

"Dat don't mean duh cops wuz my fault dat time, ya skuzz!" Storm corrected.

"Please, even if I hadn't put the hippo gang in, you would have still had the cops on your tail feathers because you barely move above the speed limit! Which is actually a good thing, you'd probably run into something if you went at a normal speed, clumsy oaf" Wave was getting heated now too. Clearly, she always went for his slower riding when she was getting warmed up.

"I'm goin 90 miles per owah right nah, how is dat 'barely ovah duh speed limit'?"

"It's relative to the speed limit, nimrod. If the speed limit is 70 miles per hour, then congratulations, you're only going 20 mph faster than every other car on the road. A grandma late for a business meeting drives that fast. Jet's normal speed is 130 mph, which is 60 mph faster than you're going right now. With cops chasing you. But no, good job, you're really cranking it up to the next level, aren't ya?" Wave briskly explained, while belittling the grey albatross on the other end. He grunted in frustration trying to keep what she was saying straight in his head, but his feeble mind dropped the connections and his place in their back and forth was lost to him.

"Yah know numbahs confuse me, Wave! Yah know dat! Now I can't even remembah what we wuz talkin 'bout!" he expressed, feeling badgered and confused.

"And I can barely hear myself think with all this arguing!" Jet suddenly interjected, feeling quite annoyed. The bulky albatross caught himself after hearing Jet's discontent.

"So- sorry, boss! I ain't mean tah do all dat talkin' in duh coms!" he sincerely apologized. Crap, he didn't want to throw his leader off of his game, now of all times! That Wave! Always doing something to perturb him and then he would always react, which made her react, which made him react, which kept the cycle going until it got to a level Jet was not willing to ignore.

"Yeah, Storm! Shame on you, distracting Jet in the middle of a job, with idle chatter and nonsense!" she feigned offense and innocence in one move. Too bad it was too heavy handed and very opposite to her previous behavior.

"Wave, cut it out, you're just as guilty! Now shut up, I'm trying to concentrate!" he ordered, sounding like he was about to find both of them and smack them upside their heads.

"Alright, alright, no need to bite my head off!" Wave complained in an unnecessarily offended tone. She was being annoying, to both Jet and Storm. But Storm kept quiet, wanting Jet to have his full obedience and support. He'd just have to save that insult for later.

"Got 'em!" Jet happily exclaimed after a few moments of silence. "Let's meet up at home, Rogues! Jet, out!" he announced before shutting off his coms. Storm celebrated with a couple of "woo-hoo"s. Finally, it was time to lose these guys and dig into some nice, expensive treasure! Shifting his weight slightly, Storm's board angled higher and subsequently flew higher in the sky, leaving the police tailing him on the ground and getting further and further away from the large grey bird.

Storm turned around to send them a cocky wave goodbye and some hearty laughs. However, when he did, he neglected to see the helicopter they had managed to catch the attention of during the chase. The helicopter was right behind the still ascending Storm, the officers onboard preparing some heavy artillery to get the big guy back on the ground.

The chopping sound of the copter blades spinning in the wind finally caught his attention and as soon as he saw the helicopter, they loaded their gatling gun with reams and reams of ammunition. Storm let out a manly shout of fear before booking it away from the chopper. Unfortunately, he was a couple of seconds too late and the chopper fired at will on him.

Through the mayhem of bullets coming his way, his frantic riding keeping him off balanced, and his shrieking, Storm managed to make it above the helicopter unscathed. Well, mostly, he did get hit by a couple of rounds. But he's fortunate enough to be so strong and bulky, that they don't pierce his body at all. But that doesn't stop them from leaving a bruise and hurting like hell.

Once Storm was above the helicopter, he roared angrily. They weren't supposed to bring out a freaking helicopter! He was one guy on a hoverboard! And he was careful not to hurt any innocent people during the chase, so what gives!? Fed up with the whole situation, Storm aimed his gear for a nose dive... directly on top of the helicopter's rotating blades.

Yes, this was dumb. Storm wasn't the smartest... but he knew what he was doing... somewhat. Mostly, they had just pissed him off.

With a thundering crash, Storm rammed into the center of the rotary blades, the single most important piece for the helicopter's sustained flight. The hunk of metal immediately careened downward in a spiral as smoke and debris came flying off of Storm's point of impact. But Storm wasn't done yet, he pulled his Extreme Gear from under him and proceeded to use it as a blunt force trauma weapon, repeatedly bringing the highly advanced technology bashing on the already doomed vessel.

It wasn't until Wave came in on the coms and said something about the other police officers staying on the route for the next 5 minutes at most, that Storm snapped out of his destructive rage and remembered he needed to get off of the falling wreckage asap. At a speed that should normally be impossible for him, the grey albatross got his feet on the board and flew off of it just in time. However, he was not just in time to miss the following explosion that resulted from the helicopter slamming onto the asphalt. Whilst on fire.

The explosion pushed Storm further into the air at an accelerated speed, but his control was nearly gone. His feet were pushed off of the gear by the pressure, causing him to desperately reach down for it with his hands. Thankfully, his large arms and big hands had the reach to keep his board in his possession. Once his rust orange gloves grabbed onto the Extreme Gear, he pulled it close to him and hugged it, wrapping his legs around it for added measure. He was still moving at an accelerated speed, and man oh man, he was high up. There was no way he was letting go of that board.

Unfortunately, it spat and sputtered a lot, actually losing power for a few terrifying moments. This at least gave him the opportunity to actually stand on his gear again. But there were sparks flying off of it in regular intervals, smoke puffed from the back more than the appealing orange light it was supposed to emit, and it was a bit shaky.

It took all of Storm's skill as an Extreme Gear rider to get himself and the board back to the Babylon's home/hideout. The flying airship they named "The Babylonian Cloud". Storm nearly had a heart attack 50 odd times, but he caught sight of the familiar airship. He praised the gods in relief and thanks. His troubles were about to be over.

"Stoooorm... I better be imagining the smoke and sparks coming off of your gear..." a sudden, frightening voice threatened in his ear. And he could have swore his heart jumped out of his ribcage when he heard it. Storm wobbled on the barely elevating board, realizing just how dangerous his situation was.

"You had better not messed it up. You better not come in here with my gear busted up and shot to hell! Storm, you colossal moron, what did you DOOOO!?" Wave screeched, revving up for one of her signature nagging rants. Storm groaned as her squawking voice bombarded him with insults and made incited a headache to form in his temples.

The most terrible thing about Storm's current situation was not the fact that he was on a malfunctioning board several thousand feet in the air. It wasn't the fact that his concentration and skill had been halved because he had spent several stressful minutes trying to get said board into the air without it shorting out and plummeting him to his doom which meant he was currently at his wits' end.

It was the fact that even if he turned off his coms, the seething, venomous, endlessly annoying voice of the scary girl on the other end of the line would not give him peace for the next couple weeks straight. And if Storm wasn't so brave, he would have turned off his gear and free-fall into death's sweet embrace. Alas, Storm the Albatross was not a coward.

And so as the solemn thief finally reached the airship and docked into the hangar, he turned his comm-link off and mentally prepared himself for the rest of Wave's viscous tongue lashing.


	2. Pre-Riders Part 2

"WHAT DO YOU USE THAT SPECK YOU CALL A BRAIN ROLLING AROUND IN YOUR THICK, ROCK SKULL FOR, HUH?!" Wave shouted harshly, her shrill voice bouncing off the walls of Jet's office.

"FOR THA LAST TIME, I WUZ JUST TRYIN' TAH GET THA HELICOPTAH AWAY FROM ME!" Storm defended with a strong yell. Jet's ears rang at the sound of the two conflicting tones projecting as loud as possible right in front of him. He called them in the office to get them to stop arguing, not to encourage there arguing.

"AND YOU HAD TO USE THIS AS A FREAKING BULLET SHIELD EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE SOME SORT OF MONSTER THAT CAN TAKE THE BULLETS AND NOT GET WOUNDED?! YEAH, THAT MAKES A TON OF SENSE!" she screeched back sarcastically, inching to her tip toes to gain some sort of dominance over Storm. Her efforts were futile, Storm was literally looking down on her as he grunted in frustration.

"YAH JUST CAN'T LET DIS GO, CAN YA?! I SAID IT WUZ AH ACCIDENT, YA THINK I WANTED TAH COME BACK HERE AND LISTEN TAH YOUR COMPLAININ' FER ANOTHER MONTH STRAIGHT?!" he asked violently pointing a thick finger in Wave's face. Jet inhaled, attempting to defuse the situation for the 15th time. But like the other 14th times, he was ignored and talked over by the two bickering avians.

"I WOULDN'T BE NAGGING IF YOU COULD HAVE JUST LISTENED TO ME BEFORE WE WENT! BUT I SUPPOSE THAT'S TOO MUCH TO ASK, CONSIDERING YOUR HEARING IS SELECTIVE!" she yelled, pushing the thick finger out of her personal space.

"WHADDOES DIS HAVE TAH DO WIT MY HEARIN'?! WHAT IF IT'S YOU AND YAH BIG, NEVAH-CLOSIN' MOUTH?!" Storm threw up his large arms, before slamming them onto the ground, befuddled at the angry purple swallow glaring him down.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" Jet tried to interject again, knowing the exact tone that Wave just used was her "pissed beyond pissed" octave. It was time to cut in. With a swift breath and a lifted finger, he was about to stop Storm from taking the argument even further than it had been. But Storm was too stupid to know it was time to keep his mouth shut.

"YAH ALWAYS GOT SOMETHIN' TAH SAY 'BOUT EVERYTHIN' I DO! EVERYTHIN', WAVE! WHYDO YAH HAVE TAH COMMENT ON EVERY SINGLE THING I DO?! HOWDO YAH HAVE TIME FOR ANYTHIN' ELSE?!" the face Wave made in response to Storm caused sheer dread to come into Jet's soul. They were about to de-age into 5 year olds, and Jet was unfortunately going to have to be the adult.

"YOU STINKING SACK OF-" But they were too quick with the rapid fire retorts for him to get a word in, edgewise.

"UGLY, PUSS-FACED-"

"GINORMUS TROGLODITE OF A-"

"BITTER, CHALKY-BREATHED-"

"UNIVERSAL RECORD HOLDER OF INCOMPETENCE!"

"INCH-HI', BOBBLE HEAD, WITH MOUNTIN' LOOKIN' FEET!"

"FOR THE LOVE OF ALL OUR ANCESTORS, SHUT THE HELL UUUUUUUUPPPP!" Jet finally had enough, his patience gone in the wind. The previously unstoppable, violent arguing Babylonians fearfully jolted at the sound of Jet's authoritative anger. As if rehearsed, the two turned to Jet's desk and took in the image of Jet's positively unamused glare. He was fuming and both of them knew he was rightfully angry. They were out of line with the arguing and as Jet walked from behind his desk, they both stood at attention.

"You two are driving me INSANE with all of this arguing!" chastised the green hawk. Both of his subordinates stared at the floor shamefully. They were in this situation countless times before, they knew the drill.

"The heist was a success! Storm's gear is a little busted up, but he's still alive!" Jet counted on his fingers, as if he was trying to tell them things they didn't already know. The truth is they had forgotten all the positives in the heat of the moment. Once it was time to shout at each other, Storm and Wave got tunnel vision.

"The cops aren't chasing us, we got all the treasure in the truck, we're all going to share it, so why?" Jet said picking up a shining jewel from a pile on the office floor. It glistened in the florescent lights, radiating a prism of hues on it's surface. It was beautiful and clearly worth a very large amount of money.

"WHY ARE YOU BOTH ARGUING?!" Jet asked at his wits' end.

"Because Storm messed up my work for the 90th time!"

" 'Cuz Wave won't lemme alone!" They both replied like children.

"NO! NO, I SAID SHUT UP, THAT QUESTION WAS RHETORACAL AND YOU KNOW IT!" Jet shouted, roughly waving his arms in front of him to emphasize his anger. Wave visibly shrank at his words, feeling ashamed. Storm just looked at his leader perplexed, his head tilted to the side. After a few seconds, Jet understood and sighed in exasperation.

"Well, you knew Wave. Storm, rhetorical means you don't answer the question" he quickly said to get Storm through the difficult word so he could continue to unload his frustrations and chastise them further.

"But why would yah ask me a question... and not wanna answer?" the dim witted albatross asked.

"... You know what, never mind. Just keep being quiet" the younger boy realized it was a futile effort anyway.

"Yessir, sorry sir!" Storm proclaimed, standing even more at attention than before.

"He said stop talking, pretty sure 'yessir, sorry sir', was you talking, dingus" Wave rudely interjected.

"DON'T CALL ME DINGUS! DAT'S NOT EVEN A WORD!" The albatross shot from 0 to 100 in half a second, turning to the shorter Wave so he could get in her face again. Jet closed his eyes tightly, trying not to completely lose it, his hand rising to rest his face in it.

"Are you serious?! You think dingus isn't a word? Oh wait this is you we're talking about, I'm pretty sure you actually don't know" Wave retorted, turning to Storm, pushing his face from her personal space with a firmly pointed finger. Jet's eyes still remained shut as he slowly lurched his upper body forward. He swore he was about to commit a double homicide if they didn't stop.

"WE AIN'T TALKIN' ABOUT NOTHIN', BOSS JUS TOLD US TAH BE QUIET!" Jet steadily let his anger build, his forehead pressing against his palm. Under his feathers, he could feel his veins pulsing to the surface.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING RIGHT NOW, YOU SIMPLETON?!" Okay he couldn't hold it in anymore, these two were asking for it. In a swift lunge, Jet erupted his rage upon the bickering birds.

"SAY ONE MORE WORD AND I'LL THROW YOU BOTH OFF THE SIDE OF THE DAMN AIRSHIP! CLOSE YOUR MOUTHS RIGHT NOW, AND I MEAN RIGHT! FREAKING! NOOOOOW!" Jet was sure the people 10,000 feet below the Babylonian Cloud could hear the echos. After some clumsy and fearful flailing from the 2 sources of his frustration, his lackeys were back to their at attention stances. Only this time they were a lot more nervous and quiet.

And then, Jet said it. He said the one thing that neither of them expected to hear, and never knew how much they would dread hearing it. The worst thing he could have ever said to completely throw them off of their game.

"Gods, you bicker like an old married couple!" he sighed out, leaning on the corner of his desk with his hand, the other one resting on his forehead again. Their reaction was nothing short of extraordinary. If Jet was actually looking at them in that moment, his anger would have been completely dissipated and replaced with a mocking hilarity that would definitely shame them both into taking a vow of silence from that day forward.

Both Wave and Storm immediately shot their eyes up at Jet, which were now the size of dinner plates, a mad blush rose to their cheeks eventually redding up their faces. Then all they could do was spirt and sputter the beginnings of protests at randomized volumes. Fortunately for them, this embarrassing display came to an abrupt end and Jet wasn't paying them any attention when he put them under subjection once more.

"Here's what you're both going to do and you're going to do it now" the young hawk commanded with a tone dripping in authority. Storm and Wave had no choice but to bottle their indignations and flustered feelings to listen to their incredibly upset leader.

"Wave..." Jet called, pulling her attention from her stifled reaction back on him. The purple swallow quickly stiffened her already stiff at attention pose to be ready to receive his orders. Albeit, she was still feeling quite flustered and off center, so her response was less than dignified.

"YEah- YEAH?" her voice cracked out of her mouth awkwardly.

"You're going to teach Storm everything he needs to know about Extreme Gear. That way, when he comes in with a busted up board, he can fix it on his own and you won't have to trouble yourself with fixing it"

It was clear from the look on her face that Wave was not prepared for those orders. Two completely unpredictable comments in quick succession had her reeling from the impact of the shock. She couldn't even gather her thoughts together to combat this new development. Her and Storm? In a room together? Trying to teach him, TEACH HIM, the complex and intricate details of Extreme Gear and all of it's mechanics and formulas? STORM? Her and Storm INTENTIONALLY spending hours on end together? What was even happening? Where had Wave suddenly traveled to? Was this actually happening?

Of course, Wave's thoughts were moving much to fast and were much to numerous in quantity for her to properly get them from her brain to her vocal cords, so all she could patch through to the open air was... "WHAAAAAAT-!?"

"This isn't a conversation, I'm not interested in hearing your complaints, Wave! Just do it! This is a direct order from your leader!" Jet was quick to cut her down, nip whatever argument he and Wave could have. His leadership position in the Rouges was his trump card, which Jet had to be careful with when it came to Wave. Storm was very dutiful in is role of follower, so Jet didn't have to use his trump card on him ever, really. But Wave was a different story.

If he used it too much, it would lose it's effectiveness on her, giving her more courage to defy him. If he used it too little, it wouldn't be enough to keep her from flying off the handle. If he never used the leadership trump card, the idea of him actually being in charge of his older companion would be far and removed from her, giving her the liberty to brush whatever he says off.

So he had to take care and save up time in between playing his trump card, so that Wave's smart mouth never got the better of him when it really mattered. And BOY did it matter this time. He seriously had it with all of their arguing and anything he could do to keep them away from him and stop arguing was worth doing.

"Jet-! God-! I jus-! Fffffu-! FINE! JUST GIVE ME A MINUTE TO GET THE WORKSHOP READY!" Wave finally gave in to his authoritative stare and stormed out of the office, hitting her larger, albatross companion with the door. But Storm ignored the fuming, spiteful girl and kept his at attention stance firm and stiff.

"Storm, you can go... now..." Jet stopped and stared at his big attendant, quietly pondering why he hadn't left after Wave. Just as he wondered about him, Storm quickly raised his hand high in the air, confusing Jet even more.

"... What are you doing?" he asked exasperated, squinting his eyes in mild confusion after leaning closer on his desk, his foot lazily crossing over his other foot. Storm simply pointed his other hand at his raised one. Still not getting, Jet thought. Why didn't he just say what he wanted, what was this hand raising business?

"Do you have something to say?" he questioned, to which Storm nodded vigorously.

"Then speak, what the heck is wrong with you? Wait... are you... raising your hand to speak?" Jet finally put together. Storm confirmed his deduction with another intense nodding. But this just served to irritate Jet further, his hand returned to his forehead as he felt a painful throb in his skull.

"Storm... this isn't school, put your freaking hand down and just talk" he commanded in a tired way that a father desperately trying to get his son to stop being rambunctious would.

"BOSS I REALLY DON'T WANNA DO DIS!" Storm declared definitively. This was rare for him to do, Jet took note of, Storm rarely had anything opposing to say when Jet ordered them to do something. And Jet ordered them to do some trivial stuff sometimes. Hey if being leader didn't come with perks, Jet wouldn't be leading.

"I don't care, I'm ordering you to do it" Jet replied calmly in a matter of fact way. But Storm struggled to let this go. Wave was unbearable, if he spent longer than 2 minutes with her, he feared they would just dissolve into trying to kill each other.

Plus, learning? Him? Smarts were not his strong suit at all, in fact Storm thought "strong suit" meant some kind of business suit people wore to make them stronger. He has often considered getting one for Jet, to strengthen his boss further, and... wait what was he thinking about?

Oh right, Wave.

Yeah, he hated the idea of being alone with her for long periods of time. And the fact that he would be forced to learn boring math and science stuff just made it sound like torture. Storm didn't want to defy Jet in anyway, but this was one of the rare times that he felt Jet's directions would only lead to disaster. And he tried to find the right words in his limited vocabulary to convince Jet to maybe change his mind on the subject.

"BUT BOSS, SHE-"

"STORM!" Jet interrupted harshly, making Storm clam up and throw out his pleas for Jet's reconsideration out the window. He nervously looked down as Jet slowly walked up to him. The green hawk let out a tired sigh before changing tactics with Storm. Yelling at Storm wasn't the way Jet dealt with Storm.

"Look Storm, I know this isn't what either of you want... but I need you to just trust me on this one..." Jet reassured, patting his subordinate's massive arm. Storm kept silent, but made eye contact with Jet as he continued to speak in a patient way.

"This will be good for you. Every one us needs to know the basics of Extreme Gear mechanics. I had to learn it from my father, Wave had to learn from her's, maybe your dad tried to teach you at some point, but..." Jet paused and Storm looked away for a moment, the silence sudden and heavy between them. They didn't talk about Storm's father. Ever.

"..." Storm slightly glared at the blank space beside him, feelings complex and unaddressed quietly bubbling in his gut. Thankfully, Jet broke the silence.

"What I'm trying to say is Wave knows everything there is to know about Extreme Gear. She's your best chance at learning everything you need to keep your gear running smooth" he said, a forced lightness apparent in his voice, to smooth over the accidental mention of a certain parent. And it appeared to have worked, Storm's eyes were simple and plain and back focused on Jet once more.

"I know you're not on the best terms with her, and she is probably going to be very mean through the whole ordeal, but you are my right hand man, Storm. And I need you to learn from her to better serve our family. So work really hard to understand everything she's going to teach you, okay?" Jet ended his pleasant encouragement with a genuine smile. Storm took in Jet's positive instruction and reassurance, but couldn't find it inside of him to smile back at his favorite member of his family.

The grey albatross raised a massive hand to awkwardly scratch behind his head. He just didn't think he had it in him to do this. This job was... just to big for someone like him to handle. He didn't want to try this, fail, and disappoint Jet, knowing all the time he couldn't accomplish the task. It didn't seem fair to Jet.

"Boss ya know I ain't as smart as Wave or you or... anybody... I don't think I'll get anythin' out o' dis... I don't think I can't do dis... I wish I could but... I don't think I can, Boss..." the big teenager sadly admitted to his smaller leader. He couldn't bear letting Jet down, so he would rather nip this in the bud now, save Jet the misery later. But Jet wasn't letting this go.

"Hey, you're a Babylon Rogue. Nothing is impossible for us! Trust me, you can understand how this stuff works and you can at least get along with Wave for a small amount of time everyday, just focus really hard on the information and don't let whatever insults she says get to you, okay?" patronized Jet in a convincing way. He had to shut Storm's inhibitions off so he could get them to coexist without biting each other's heads off. Storm was the key to getting this to stand a snowball's chance, when he got determined about, he was unshakable by anyone (except Jet) from making it work. So the last thing he needed to hear was Storm unsure he could do this. Unfortunately...

"I dunno, Boss, I don't think I can keep Wave from gettin' tah me. And focusin' hurts my head!" the baritone bird explained further, much to Jet's annoyance.

"LOOK STOR- ahem! Look, Storm. Just power through this. Pretend like you're... I don't know... punching the information with your brain... instead of your hands" the hawk desperately tried to get his dim-witted buddy to understand.

"... Punchin'... wit my... brain..?" he asked, unable to fathom such a thing. Clearly, he wasn't understanding.

"PRETEND, STORM! PRETEND! Just... think about this as... a workout. Only instead of lifting weights and punching the punching bag, pretend Wave's lessons are weights and punching bags for your brain. You get me?" Jet yelled, but quickly returned to a more gentle, though annoyed tone. And for a moment, Storm just looked at his little leader's expectant face in silence. The massive albatross didn't know if he could handle this... but Jet had never looked at him with such an expecting face.

Jet... believed in him... He believed that this impossible thing... was possible for Storm. And that fact alone, caused Storm to believe he could do it too.

"... I think so, Boss..." he said, finally having some confidence in himself again. Phew, that was harder than it should have been, Jet thought to himself. Jet visibly wiped his brow and let out a relaxed breath in quiet celebration.

"Okay great, now get out. You and Wave have a lot of work to do" the smaller boy quickly said, while moving back to his chair behind his desk. He was obviously trying to get the giant brute out of his office so he could enjoy some peace and quiet with his treasure after an evening of ordeals.

"Alright, Boss! I'll try my best! You can count on me! I SWEAR I WON'T LET YA DOW-!" Storm continued to darken Jet's doorway as he spoke and Jet had certainly had enough of his teammates for one day, so this lingering had to be stopped.

"STORM! LEAVE!" he yelled impatiently, pointing at the open door. The large bird fluttered around for a bit before moving his big form out of the leader's office.

"R- right! Sorry, Boss!" he apologized sincerely before slamming the door close, causing the room to shake a bit. Jet had to swiftly catch some gold paperweight that was careening off of his desk thanks to the tremors Storm sent through his office. After putting the paperweight back on his mahogany desk, Jet slumped tiredly into his cozy loveseat-turned-rolling-chair. In this moment of peaceful quiet, Jet closed his eyes and soaked it in. Only to quickly realize something.

"... Oh ancestors, I've made a terrible mistake..." he groaned. For pete's sake, he just forced the most antagonistic individuals he knew into spending a lot of time together doing something equally grating for them both... SURROUNDED BY POWER TOOLS. Yeah, one of them was going to kill the other, if he was unlucky, they both would kill each other and he would be the only Babylonian left. What a horrible situation that would be...

Regardless, this needed to happen, those two were not changing anytime soon on their own, so he had to force them to do something constructive together. Whether they would admit it or not... they were all they had... they couldn't be at each other's throats 24/7, they could get killed out there. And it's not like Jet hasn't tried to get them to cooperate before now, he's tried to be nice about this whole animosity they have toward each other.

Heck, at first, Jet thought it was funny. But when he realized he was the only one of the the 3 growing up... it started to get under his skin. This was probably the smartest thing he could have done to get them to just coexist. Yes, it was very risky, but if Storm could be the stubborn meathead he knew he was, and if Wave was excited by a challenge and ready to lord her knowledge of Extreme Gear over a willing audience, which he knew she was, then this had a good chance of turning out alright in the end.

He wasn't expecting them to hug and make cookies by the end of it, but... at least they could work as a team more efficiently. And at least he wouldn't have to deal with their constant bickering for the foreseeable future. But even if this ended up exploding in his face, he knew for sure he would get something out of it.

"At least this will keep them both occupied and buy me a moment of peace..." And with that said, Jet proceeded to gingerly go through the pile of jewels, with a grin plastered on his face.

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 _Uh yeah, I just randomized a bunch of insults for this. Hope you enjoyed. X'DDDD (Also, Wave, turns out "dingus" isn't a real word after all. Storm was actually right... huh... wonder if that's gonna be a pattern...)_


	3. Pre-Riders Part 3

Of all the punishments that Jet has made her do over the years, this was the most cruel and unusual of them all. Wave couldn't think of anything that was worse than this, she was putting away all of the delicate tools and her most precious works in progress in preparation for teaching. And not just teaching some random person, she had to teach Storm, the most dimwitted, idiotic, foolishly ignorant, dullard she had ever met!

Storm. The reason she was in here hurriedly hiding all of her organized, yet disorganized belongings that she was going to have to scramble around to find when she got the chance to boot him out of the laboratory. That neanderthal buffoon was going to be the end of her! He was the one that came home with a busted board, he ALWAYS came home with a busted board! And she just couldn't NOT call him out on that, she was always saddled with fixing his damn crap and he needed to understand how unbelievably annoying and tedious it was for her to have to do that.

It was like putting something together and just waiting for it to break apart so she could put it back together, and the cycle was endless and most viscous. And what's worse than that? He didn't even care. After she tells him specifically what to do with his stuff, HIS BOARD, to keep it from breaking, he just ignored her and busted it anyway. Could he comprehend how frustrating that was for her? Had it even occurred to him how time consuming and useless it was to deal with this crap?!

"This is some spit, some straight up spit!" she whispered spitefully to herself as she quickly placed some tools into a box and proceeded to kick that box under a desk a couple of feet from her. Why her? Why couldn't Jet be the one to teach that blockhead Storm about gear? He loves Jet, he would hang on every word he said, they would actually have fun together!

But Wave and Storm? They were gonna kill each other within the first 10 minutes! This just didn't make any sense!

"Wave, I'm here!" Storm yelled startling the girl. She turned to see the towering grey bird in the workshop's doorway, casting a long shadow on the floor.

"Yeah, I can see that. Just stay right there, I'm still Storm proofing the place!" she shouted over her shoulder, trying to press various mecha parts into a much too small box. The skinny swallow repeatedly pressed her entire body weight on the pile of parts, trying her best to force the box close, but it would just spring right back up. Watching her frantic display, Storm did his best to stifle a laugh.

"Pfft, ya- hee hee- ya want sum help wit dat?" he managed to ask. The final attempt to get the box to close ended with the parts springing out of the box and spilling out on the floor. Wave reacted as predictable as ever.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?! UUUUUUGH!" she screamed in aggravation. It just was not her dat today. Storm couldn't help but let his laughter out which made Wave's day even worse.

"You think this is funny, you walking couch?!" the heliotrope shade girl shouted angrily. Her large companion simply laughed louder at her retort. He couldn't help it, she looked so flustered and frazzled, he rarely saw her like this. Wave was constantly the haughty, smarty pants mean girl, who always had everyone and everything under her control. So as she ran over to grab a monkey wrench to throw at him, only to slide on some spilled diesel oil and fall flat on her butt, he enjoyed every second of it.

"BWAHAHAHAHA!" the albatross roared deeply, falling to his knees. Storm's cheeks were beginning to get sore, he repeatedly pounded the floor with his massive fist. Oh man, this was too funny! The purple feathered girl struggling to get to her feet, shot him a glare, he hand still reaching for that monkey wrench.

"You... you... dumpster sack of hammers! This is all YOUR FAULT!" shouted the irritated avian right before she hurled the coveted monkey wrench like a baseball at the vulnerable Storm. A loud metallic thwack was her reward.

"OW! HAHAHA! Jeez, I'm sorry! HAHAHA, I can't help it, ya FELL on yer BUTT! HAHAHAHAHA!" Storm giggled like a child, rubbing his head where the wrench belted him. Wave let out a furious high-pitched grunt as she moved carefully back to the box and attempted to pick up the mecha pieces again.

"You're the reason I have to section off major projects and most of my tools! You're the reason I can't just keep everything where it was and you're the reason I'm fighting with this flipping. box. from. Hell!" the frustrated Wave ranted, throwing the various fragments scattered on the floor into the tattered box, accenting all her words with the audible clang they made whilst hitting the container.

She reached down to get another piece, but noticed there was none left on the metallic floor. Weird, there had to have been like 30 more engine and turbine parts on the floor... a rough shift of material caught her attention, making her look up at the pile of mechanical parts in Storm's giant arm, curled under him like a basketball. Before Wave could say anything, he reached in front of her, pulled the box toward him, slammed the parts in the container more roughly than she would have liked, and using just two fingers, pressed the top flaps close.

Jeez, sometimes she forgot how strong he was. Her entire body weight wasn't enough and he just used 2 fingers to solve her problem. She should have been at least a little thankful, but really? All it made her feel was anger. How dare he show her up like that? Like she couldn't do it herself, despite the fact that she had managed to pack everything else up just fine on her own. It was frustrating for the small swallow.

"So did ya have anythin' else ya wanted me tah put away?" he asked innocently, snapping Wave out of her thoughts.

"Well, aren't you the helpful one today? No, Storm. I'm fine and I would have been if you hadn't shown up in the middle of me cleaning up" she said rudely before walking away from the innocent albatross to get some material she set off to the side of the workshop. Storm simply shrugged and walk over to a stool, lazily lifting it over his shoulder with one hand and moving to where Wave was now shuffling through some assorted items.

"Haaaa... okay Wave. You can get through this... you can do this without killing him. You are strong, you are flawless, you are awesome. You got this, girl" encouraged the sassy bird under her breath, as she took some parts and placed them on a table in between her and the now sitting Storm. He looked dumb, sitting his enormous body on the stool, that she swore he made look like a kiddie chair when he sat on it.

With a deep breath, Wave put on her resting B-face and laid it out straight for her new "student"...

"Listen, this is how this is going to go: I'm going to talk, you're going to listen to every word I say, and if you mess up I will break a random bone of my choosing on your person. So for once in your life, don't tick me off. You understand, lard load?" Wave said, leaning disrespectfully at the grey feathered boy sitting across from her, her arms at an angle and propping her head up with her shoulders.

Storm strained to remember what Jet told him before he left his office, knowing that if he didn't, he and Wave would be at each other's throats again. Now what did the boss tell him to do again?

" _Just focus really hard on the information and don't let whatever insults she says get to you, okay?_ " he said. Storm wanted to throw that out the window as soon as she called him that crude insult, but then he remembered the other thing Jet said.

" _I know you're not on the best terms with her, and she is probably going to be very mean through the whole ordeal, but you are my right hand man, Storm. And I need you to learn from her to better serve our family. So work really hard to understand everything she's going to teach you_ " he told him. And the memory just made Storm ascend into a peaceful place.

Jet was counting on him. Jet believed in him. And the last thing Storm wanted to do was prove Jet wrong. So he was going to do this, no matter how mean she was, or how hard learning this stuff was going to be, or how much time this would take up, Storm had made up his mind that he wasn't going to lose.

So he inhaled deeply, reeling his head back as he did so, causing Wave to back away from him in confusion. He held the peak of his lung capacity for a few seconds before lunging forward, bowing his head and arms before him at Wave.

"CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! I LOOK FORWARD TO YA TEACHIN' ME EVERYTHIN' I NEED TAH KNOW!" he exclaimed at the top of his lungs, his deep voice shaking the room and rattling the various metal parts and pieces. Wave jumped a full 4 feet away from him as soon as he shouted, a frightened eep escaping her mouth as she got into a defensive pose. After he finished shouting, he sat right back up and folded his hands in front of himself on the table, as if he didn't just scare the crap out of her.

"Wh-wh- WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!?" the discombobulated girl roared furiously as she swiftly grabbed the nearest object, a power drill, and flung it at the dimwitted Storm with a strength that surprised even her. The launched power tool impacted the unflinching boy with a force equal to a car smashing into a wall at 50 mph. But the massive avian fowl took the blow and the virtual dent he could feel in his head from it and bowed his head again.

"I APOLO- I apologize!" he shouted loudly, before lowering his voice to a still loud exclamation. Wave huffed out angry breaths before smoothing her bandana and her two long feathered locks it barely covered. She steadied her breathing as she closed her eyes and pantomimed with her hands the inhales and exhales. Don't let him make you lose your cool Wave. He's stupid, he's a moron, he's idiotic, and you're still awesome. Just do this for Jet and get this brick-head away from you.

"Never. Raise your voice. In this room. Again" Wave gritted through her teeth. The still bowed down Storm, quickly raised his entire torso straight up and slammed his head on the table, nearly breaking it as he bowed again.

"Yes sir, ma'am Wave sir!" he replied humbly and enthusiastically. Wave face-palmed at the incorrect and overly polite manner in which she was addressed. She walked back to the now bent and misshapen table he was bowed over and whacked him over the head with a flex-head ratchet, which bended on impact similar to the table.

"Don't call me sir or ma'am, you weirdo! And quit with the bowing!" tiredly reprimanded the swallow as she quickly examined the now broken ratchet before throwing it over her shoulder. It was fine, she had like 40 of them. And if she needed any more, she could just go steal some. Storm quickly sat back up at full attention and apologized again. That just made her sigh as she took some folded up drafting paper from the box she had set aside. Meticulously, her nimble fingers unfolded the regular sized paper into a larger poster like length.

Wave stretched the paper out on the bent up table, before looking at Storm expectantly, arms pointing at the indentation he made with his head. It took him a minute or 2, but he understood eventually what she wanted him to do. Without a word, he kicked his large foot on the underside of the table, with his hands holding the top corners of the metal table. Crudely, his robust kick pushed the indentation back fixing (if you could call it fixed) the surface into a relatively flat one once again.

The small heliotrope bird sighed, exasperation heavy in her breath, and continued the stretch the paper on the table. Storm cocked his head to the side, trying to make out what was on it. It appeared to be a drawing of a bunch of Extreme Gear parts, the stuff on the inside that he didn't know anything about. But the paper had diagrams, orthopedic views of each part, the measurements, what fluids and oils they required, the entire widespread paper was filled with information. It was quite difficult to find where to start for Storm.

Luckily, Wave didn't have that problem. She pointed a white gloved finger at a particular spot of the paper. Storm's eyes immediately zeroed in on the area as Wave spoke.

"Since you know virtually nothing about gear, we're starting with the easiest part. The exhaust system" she said unenthusiastically. Storm continued to stare at the diagram, utterly confused, but trying his darnedest to follow what was going on.

"You ready?" she asked, almost concerned when Storm didn't lift his eyes from the spot she pointed at, the gruff almost angry stare on his face had her confused again. With an audible gulp and the beginnings of some sweat coming from his brow, Storm stiffly nodded his head.

"Let's do dis..."


	4. Pre-Riders Part 4

_Okay so wow, this fic is doing way better than I thought it would! I just celebrated over 100+ views at the 10 days old mark! O.O That's wild! You guys rock, and I drew a thank you pic over on DeviantArt, check it out if you're interested~_

 _Also, I actually studied some rocket science and chemistry in preparation for this chapter. So if it sounds mega technical, that's because of that. Although, I don't REALLY understand rocket science, surprise surprise, I wanted it to be somewhat rooted in real science._ _Once again, thank you for reading, and I hope you'll enjoy! ^v^_

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"For the 15th time, this section here is where the catena-trioxygen particles that previously interacted with the exhaust gas byproduct of the dioxygen fuel, travel out of the thrust chamber and consequently mix into nitrogen dioxide in an activated state, illuminating a trail behind the gear into a neon colored light!" the intelligent swallow said quickly to her student.

There was a heavy silence in the workshop, Storm looking at Wave with an agape mouth. The diagrams scattered across the table stared him in the face unflinchingly, but Storm could do nothing but wince with the onslaught of information flashing before him like police lights. It was unbelievable that he was this lost 15 minutes into the lesson. He couldn't even last 15 minutes? Gods, he was terrible at this.

"STORM!" her high pitched voice pierced through his thoughts, jolting him back to reality. The grey feathered bird jumped in his stool in frightened surprise at her outburst.

"Y-y-yeah?!" he squeaked nervously. Storm made the mistake of looking directly at her face, which was now scrunched into a threatening scowl of rage. Whew, she was scary when she wanted to be!

"Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?! Because this is the 15th time I've gone over the exhaust system, the EASIEST PART to learn, and you're still staring blankly at me like I haven't been speaking English this whole time!" Wave castigated sharply. She ended this rant with folding her arms and shifting her weight on one foot, her stance authoritative and sassy, making it clear to her bumbling student that she was not pleased in the least.

"All o' dat wuz English?!" Storm asked incredulously, not knowing he was making the situation even worse.

"FOR THE GODS SAKE- YES!" the swallow shouted, pointing her hand violently at him.

"But ya said 'catveranda' and 'dieox-jeans'! Those ain't real words!" responded the confused albatross.

"Wh-I said 'catena-trioxygen' and 'dioxygen'! Those are Chemistry words!" Wave explained with indignant disillusion.

"WHAT DAH HECK IS 'CHEM-IS-THREE'?!" Storm asked loudly, grabbing the sides of his head with his hands. The shock on his face clear.

"UUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHH!" she bellowed as she pressed her hands to her face and faced skyward, the sliver of her patience gone.

"NO SERIOUSLY, WHAT IS 'CHEM-IS-THREE', WAVE?!" begged the simple avian, leaning forward to get closer to the smart girl, hoping that the closed distance would convince her to explain this new word for him. Instead, she simply kept her hands on her face and stayed silent. But after a moment, she flung her palms off to her sides and inhaled sharply.

"You know what? No. No I'm not doing this anymore. I'm gonna tell Jet I tried my best, but you are literally unteachable!" Wave spoke weary of the whole situation as she moved towards the exit. This was stupid, he was stupid, and Jet was stupid if he thought this was actually going to work. She had wasted enough of her day on this.

But a loud clang stopped her in her tracks, followed by the sound of sudden feet stomping to the ground. Storm had shot off of the metal stool, causing it to fall over as he stood to his full height.

"HEY WAIT, I CAN DO DIS! I'M NOT GONNA LOSE TO ALL THESE BORIN' PICTURES!" he yelled to her firmly. Wave turned her head a bit, shooting him a perplexed look.

"... 'lose'? What are you even TALKING ABOUT?!" the small swallow screamed more than asked, turning her body to his direction a bit more. That idiot was getting more and more random by the minute.

"I promised da Boss dat I was gonna punch dis stuff wit my brain n' lift dis stuff wit my brain! I'm not quittin', not evah!" the strong avian declared dogmatic and sure of his words. The phrases spoken by the simpleton just confused her more, I mean punch stuff with his brain? What in the world? Choosing to forget the stupid first sentence he said, she decided to deal with the last one.

"What's the point?! I just spent 15 minutes explaining something a child could understand and all of it went over your head!" insulted the heliotrope girl. She was fully facing Storm now, adamant on getting him to get off of his high horse and ending this fruitless task.

"Nothin' went ovah my head, everythin' ya've thrown at me hit me right on dah head!" the baritone bird replied, rubbing his head with hefty fingers, where previous hard items impacted him thanks to Wave pitching them at him like a baseball pitcher on steroids. The magenta avian went mute at the dullard's response to her turn of phrase, the sheer stupidity of it freezing her thoughts for a moment.

"... You're quite possibly the dumbest person on the planet, Storm" Wave said honestly convinced what she was saying was true. Her tone didn't get to him though, the grey giant kept to his promise steadfastly.

"I don't care! I'm gonna get less dumber n' more smarter n' I'm doing it rite here, rite now! So don't give up, Wave!" the enormous bird assured confidently in his deep and brutish baritone voice. His eyes unwavering as they bore into Wave's skull, subconsciously making her nervous. She closed her eyes and faced the ground, shaking off the effects of her larger, albatross companion's gaze.

"Ooooh, it would be so easy to just leave you here..." mentioned the skinny haughty girl in a coy way. But when she returned her eye contact with Storm, she realized she wasn't trying to give up yet either. Not until she could figure out someway to keep Jet in the dark about her giving up on the simple avian.

"But... Jet isn't going to like it if I bail on you... so I guess I'll explain it a 16th time. Who knows, that might just be your lucky number, though if I was to guess, numbers in general aren't lucky for you" the heliotrope shade girl sarcastically commented as she walked back in front of Storm and the blueprints.

"Numbahs ain't lucky, lettahs are! And my lucky lettah is 'X' for Extreme Gear! Now, less do dis, for dah 60th time!" the giant brute exclaimed excitedly.

"16th time, you moron" Wave tiredly corrected, sighing afterward. Storm bent over into a bow once more at her response.

"Rite! I apologize!" he shouted just slightly quieter than the last apology he gave her. The white bandanna wearing mechanic simply shook her head in annoyance.

"Simpleton... okay, now. Pay. Attention" she said resuming her professional tone, now laced with anger. Wave pointed back to the same section she had been pointing at for the last hour it felt like, grabbing Storm's attention as she did. The grey giant steeled himself, trying his best to focus on the diagram before him. This time he would get it... This time he would get it, for sure!

"This is the thrust chamber. This is where the chemical reaction happens that makes the gear fly forward. You follow that?" Wave tiredly asked, expecting him to already be lost.

"Yes!" he responded much to her surprise.

"Okay, progress. In here, the chemical byproducts of the fuel travel out of the chamber, through the little vent in the back, and to the outside air. Here's where the illuminance happens between the particles of the nitrogen oxide leave a trail of light behind the gear as it moves through the sky. You still following?" the purple feathered avian asked after a slow explanation. This time, she wanted to believe that he was receiving the information. Please, ancestors, make him understand this crap.

"... yes?" the big teenager unfortunately squeaked flimsily. And just like that, the smaller thief was ready to walk away from this whole thing once again.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Wave shouted harshly, her shrill voice bouncing off the walls. She took out a set of big pliers and raised them above her head, ready to smash his enormous knuckles, before he lifted his hands up in a defensive way and begged her to stop.

"No no no, wait, lemme see if I got dis rite!" the vulnerable Storm humbly and enthusiastically called out to her. The angry little bird became curious and tentatively put the pliers down on the table, before bitterly motioning to him so he could speak. This had better be good...

"Okay... so dis is where dah gas goes-" he shyly spoke, a little unsure, before the know-it-all interrupted him.

"Air. Not gas, air. Carbon dioxide, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Argon, Neon, Helium, and Methane. All the chemicals that make up standard air" she explained boastfully, showing off knowledge that Storm and most people were oblivious to. It was quite childish of her, but she liked correcting people. It made her feel smarter. After a nervous moment of silence, Storm continued.

"... yeah, dose. When dah gear eats dose all up, dah leftovahs come n' here, n' fart out dah back as sparkles. Rite?" dim-witted brute summed up crudely, but hope filled his last word. He was almost sure that was right, but he needed validation.

"Not sparkles, illuminated nitrogen oxide particles in a trail. Sparkles would be... like glitter or something" Wave coldly corrected him, not giving him the validation he wanted. So he tried again.

"Okay, 'ahloom-ahlum nitro oxy-clean' particles fart out dah back. Did I get it rite?" he asked once more, a twinkle in his eye as he looked at Wave expectantly. But the heliotrope shade mechanic simply stared at him uninterested, remaining quiet just to let him stir a bit.

"... It's illuminated nitrogen oxide particles. And if you stop saying 'fart out the back', then yes, you barely got it halfway right after having it repeated to you 16 times in a row. Congrats, what do you want a parade?" the unsympathetic girl said sarcastically. There was almost no praise or positive reenforcement in her words, but the large avian heard what he needed to hear. A wide smile spread across his face as he lifted his fists in the air.

"WOOOOOOOOOO-!" the bulky meathead bellowed happily, startling Wave and causing the swallow to pick the pliers back up.

"What are you doing?" she asked, aggravation creeping in her tone.

"- OOOOOOOOOOOO-!" but Storm didn't stop bellowing to answer her.

"Stop it, what is this?" the confused heliotrope bird asked louder, hoping Storm would shut up on his own.

"- OOOOOOOOOOOO-!" however he had no intentions of stopping, much to her dismay.

"Cut it out-What is happening right now?!" Wave was about to lose it if he didn't stop!

"- OOOOOOOOOOOO-!" and he didn't. So she stopped with the warnings.

"STORM, WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT YELLING IN THE WORKSHOP!?" she screeched as the pliers came crashing down on Storm's hand, the smaller songbird trying her darnedest to actually hurt the thick muscled imbecile. But all that did was break her pliers, though Storm's attention was back on Wave when the pain of the metal smashing his hand became apparent. Even though it didn't hurt as much as the bullets he was previously hit with a couple hours ago, it still felt uncomfortable.

"- OOOOOooooooooo! I learneded somethin'!" the considerate unflinching boy exclaimed, audible lowering his voice to keep from further offending his smaller companion. However, he unintentionally stunned her with his made up word and blissful ignorance.

"... You're doing it on purpose now aren't you?" she bluntly commented, before throwing the handle of the broken pliers at the giant grey target in front of her. It simply bounced off of him pathetically as he laughed triumphantly.

"HAHAHA! Take dat weird drawin's! I jus' bench pressed dah crap outta ya in my brain! WOOOOOO-!" A monkey wrench smacked the dumb thief square in the beak, cutting him off.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Wave yelled, nipping the return of his prolonged deep shouting in the bud. With a loud sniff, Storm could feel the familiar sting of blood being leaked from his wound. Now that one hurt him.

"I apologize, ma'am!" the humble lout apologized heartily, starting to bow again, but stopping short recalling how much his teacher hated that.

"Stooooooop, calling me ma'aaaaaaam" moaned the purple swallow, leaning over the table, with her forehead propped up by her palm. Comically, he forgot to not call her ma'am, much to her dismay.

"Yes sir, Wave-not-ma'am, sir!" Storm politely exclaimed, trying to correct his error, comically making it worse. Wave tiredly used her other hand to massage her temples, as she continued to lean on her propped up arm. This was starting to make her head throb.

"Uuuuuugh... I need a friggin aspirin..." the tired girl painfully moaned. She knew this was a bad idea. She knew how horrible it would be spending time alone with this massive dullard and she was never wrong.

"Okay, continya, Teach! Tell me 'bout some mo' stuff so I can hurry up n' be mo' smarter!" he eagerly encouraged the groaning Wave to resume the lessons. But she just looked up at him, bewildered at his eagerness.

"How are you so excited for all of this? I live for this stuff and right now, I just want to go to my room and nap. I'm tired of looking at Gear, and I never thought I would say that sentence!" complained the callous little mechanic. She was genuinely confused about the grey giant's behavior. Because as of an hour ago, he wanted nothing to do with learning Gear, now all of a sudden, it's his favorite thing in the world to do? It just doesn't add up.

"I nevah stop a workout aftah only 15 minutes! We barely warmed up, now c'mon! Mo' gear stuff, less go!" the broad shouldered boy cheered happily, his smile bright. Which annoyed the crap out of Wave. She was miserable and Storm was mocking that misery by being so cheery. Time to fix that.

"So you know, we're not done with the exhaust system yet, right?" the clever swallow mentioned casually. Feigning nonchalantness, but really knowing how the simple sentence would throw her simple minded student for a loop.

"What?!" the baritone bird questioned, unpleasantly perplexed. Wave smirked sinisterly. Predictable response.

"Oh gods, you didn't think you would learn about these different parts that easily, did you?!" hostilely asked the intelligent avian. Storm didn't speak for a moment, mute by the tone of her question. It sounded like he shouldn't think that he had accomplished something, but he did. Was that bad? Did Wave want him to say the truth or what she wanted to hear? If he had to guess...

"... nnnnnooooo?" was his unsure answer. It at least didn't result in another tool to the face. But the bandana wearing purple bird, the look on her face, told him he still wasn't in the clear. A bitter, condescending laugh escaped her mouth before she stood to her full height.

"Oh ho ho kay, listen biggum, you see this diagram?" she asked while tapping her index finger on the large paper. Not completely certain where she was going with this, Storm slowly nodded.

"Yeah, this is all of the main systems and projections of Extreme Gear. There are 49 of these, Storm. And all of them are more complex than this one, the one that you can barely grasp" bluntly spoke the nocent mechanic. The heliotrope swallow let the words hang in the air, thickening the atmosphere.

"..." Storm could barely breathe. He knew this would be hard, but... this was a lot harder than he thought it would be. It was a daunting realization, to say the least. Wave, sensing the reality of the task dawning on her larger, albatross companion, decided to continue pressing.

"Do you understand now? This is hopeless. You can't learn all of these, you aren't remotely smart enough to. I mean, it's been, wow, 28 minutes and you barely understand what I'm talking about. And I'm willing to bet a handful of treasure that you've already forgotten that little bit of information you miraculously managed to retain. Am I right?" Wave harshly, but accurately reasoned. The haughty purple feathered girl waited for the taller, broader fowl to answer her question.

Storm looked off to his side, an embarrassed blush appearing on his cheeks as he awkwardly fidgeted his hands. He remained quiet for a few seconds before finally answering.

"... mebbe a lil'-"

"Yeah, of course I am. So why don't you just give this up, leave the workshop, and we'll just pretend that we're doing what Jet wants us to do. He'll buy it, if I distract him with some gold nuggets and if you play video games with him or whatever" the hurtful swallow said suggested, finally having a suitable plan to get out of this.

"No way! I'm not gonna quit!" the grey gargantuan declared emphatically, surprising the smaller mechanic. Was he really so dumb he didn't understand she was trying to help them both? Well she was mostly trying to help herself, but he would benefit too!

"Storm. I just described a win-win situation, you dimwit! You don't like this, I don't like this, Jet won't know about us skipping out on this, everybody wins!" Wave shouted, summing up the whole plan into a bite-sized scheme that even he could understand.

"It ain't a win if we give up! It's a give up! And I'm notta givah-uppah, Wave!" the strong broad shouldered boy. The skinny swallow desired to crush that statement with her own... but was completely shocked that she couldn't directly combat it. That was a surprisingly good point, despite the sloppy delivery... and the moron that spoke it. Still, she had to admit, Storm's sense of honor was impressive... ha, but she didn't have to admit it out loud!

Shaking her head slightly, the heliotrope shade bird closed her eyes in anger and yelled, "Why in the hell does this matter so much to you?!"

"Becuz dah Boss believes in me! He's countin' on me tah be bettah! And I wanna be bettah!" Storm boldly declared, not knowing what he was doing to Wave on the inside.

"..." she turned mute, unsure what had gotten into Storm. Was he always this... dare she think it... kinda clever? You know, when it came to morals and junk? Nah, it still sounded wrong. He was a neanderthal, look at him! He barely knows how to count past 20! So why?

"I won't give up, cuz I refuse tah stay where I am! I'll nevah be satisfied wit where I am! I'm always tryin' tah get strongah, toughah, fastah! Always! Becuz dat's what life's 'bout, Wave!" Storm continued, trying his best to convince the standoffish mecha genius to continue teaching him.

"..." Why... did his words weigh so much? Why did they... hit her heart so hard? Wave couldn't help but seriously rethink who she assumed Storm was. She just didn't recognize any part of his attitude right now. It was like... he was right and she was... she was... _a little less than right._ Because she wasn't wrong, she was never wrong! And even thinking it would not be right!

"So please... please don't give up. I don't wanna do dis by myself. And Jet doesn't want me tah do dis by myself. So I'm beggin' ya, Wave, teach me everythin' I need tah know, and I'll try my best tah remembah it all!" the earnest boy pleaded, not knowing any other way to convince Wave to continue being his Gear instructor. He couldn't let it end like this. Jet needed him and his best chance to help him was with Wave teaching him. The hefty grey fowl hoped he had convinced her, because he was out of things to say.

The quiet heliotrope bird kept her mouth closed, still jarred by his surprisingly powerful words. How could this be, when did "Storm the Idiot" become "Storm the Half-Idiot-Half-Somewhat- Wise-Hermit?" Nothing about today made any sense, this was so weird.

I mean, Jet comes out of the blue, tells her to teach Storm about Gear, and suddenly Storm's all honest and genuine? Please, it was sickening! And she had had enough.

"... you're irritatingly stupid..." she finally spoke, with a voice both bitter and cold. Storm closed his eyes and exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding in. A small smile crept to his face; he got through to her.

"I apologize" earnestly said the calm giant.

"... but you're really not gonna leave this alone, are you?" the purple feathered avian asked in an uncharacteristically gentle tone.

"No sir, Wave-no-ma'am sir" Storm answered lightly, smiling a little wider and cocking his head to the side. The mechanic girl looked at his face, for the first time not knowing what to really think about him. She silently contemplated if he was worth this now full strength headache. If any of this was worth her time. And she honestly... didn't have the patience for this.

She slowly made her way across the room and to the door, her face stoic and uncaring as she turned from the expecting ocean bird standing behind her, a hurt and desperate expression on his face. When she reached the door, Storm took a few steps toward her, reaching out a wide hand in a desperate way to get her to stay. But before he could move any further, she spoke up.

"... Then... I won't stop you... study those diagrams, figure it out with your... indomitable spirit and your can-do attitude... and I'll be taking a bath to wash this entire ordeal off of myself" the shorter thief coldly stated. She was done with all of this. She mentally apologized to Jet for not following through with his wishes, but she couldn't do this.

"Wave wait-"

"Don't break anything or I'll come back and roast you over a jet engine. Now have a nice day..." threatened the malicious and aggravatingly tired Wave, interrupting whatever pleas Storm had. Her hard glare met his eyes and she felt a twinge of something unfamiliar rising in her gut. But she slammed the door, suppressing whatever that unknown feeling was and successfully abandoning Storm in the daunting workshop.

With nothing but the diagrams staring unflinchingly at the unfortunate colossus...


	5. Pre-Riders Part 5

_**PEOPLE. HOLY CRAP. 300 VIEWS. ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?** *flails on the ground in happiness* TTvTT_

 _Serious, I'm very happy this little silly fic is making an impact on some fans. I love that, and I love that I can't keep up with all the milestones. You guys are eating it up and I'm loving it all~ Trust me, this is a give and take. I'm having as much fun, nay, more fun with this fic than you guys are. XDDD Thanks once again for all the likes and reviews and follows. I hope you keep enjoying~ C:_

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Warm water cascaded forth from the golden embroidered faucet of Wave's bathtub. Her ungloved hand dangled just above the rising surface of the hot bath, allowing her fingers to twirl and sway, throwing ripples across the water. The purple swallow stared into the rushing water, lost in thought on the events of the day, still unable to grasp exactly how her situation had gone from unfortunately normal to unbelievably abnormal in the matter of a few hours.

Wave could still hear the ringing in her ears from Jet's reprimanding, telling her she was fighting with Storm for no reason, when the opposite was true. Storm broke his board... AGAIN! The problem wasn't her, it was clearly HIM! She never messed up her board, Jet never messed up his board, the only one with regular Extreme Gear emergency repairs was the lumbering buffoon that she had the displeasure of being teammates with!

And to add insult to injury, Jet forced Wave to teach Storm to fix his gear, according to him it was an idea born to "help them". But Wave knew her green feathered leader better than that. This wasn't about that moron and her getting along for the sake of the team, it was about Jet giving them a reason to keep their arguing away from him while simultaneously punishing them for annoying him.

A pleasant heat rising to her exposed forearm grabbed her attention, reminding her to turn off the water as the level was just short of too high to add anything else to it. She quickly stood and turned to the marble sink just a few feet from the large tub, an elegantly made mirrored cabinet resting right above the sink.

Taking a few short steps to the reflective surface, the slightly bitter bird placed her dainty hands on the side, slowly flipping open the hidden cabinet. There, she took out a small colored ball, tossed it over her shoulder and it plopped into the water. After a few seconds, the ball dissolved into bubbles, frothing mounds of bubbles, overwhelming the bathtub. Wave quickly took off her signature white bandana, placed it on the side of the sink, and stepped into the suds-filled bath.

"Aaaaaaah... That's the stuff..." sighed the weary mechanic, so comfortable that she couldn't even remember what she was mad about for a few blissful moments. But as she sank lower and settled in the cloud-like suds, the rest of the days events came rushing back to her with a vengeance.

Storm and his... incalculable stupidity, had been the subject of her teasing for years, and it was actually very easy to belittle and exploit. In fact, it was one of Wave's favorite things to do, she loved tuning up Gear and insulting that moron. But having to sit, in the workshop, alone with him... it was the worst experience of her life.

I mean, he couldn't even understand the exhaust system! That was the easiest part! It's just a big light up chemical reaction and he couldn't get that!

Well... now that she thought about it... he did manage to understand that in someway... But still, he said it like a troglodyte! "Fart out the back" come on, what's with that?!

"Uggggghhhh... That annoying mountain of flab..." she thought angrily, as she lifted her leg, her foot sporting a big helmet of bubbles. The smallest sensation of them popping on her raised appendage was so soft and cleansing, it felt like millions of tiny hands massaging her troubles away.

With a pleasant inhale, she could smell the sweet scent of the bouquet of flowers that rested in a vase on her luxury sink. Their scent mixing with the fragrant bubble bath blending into a wondrous scent that transcended the gaudy perfume she had previously stolen from a supposedly high-end clothing store. Oh, it smelled so good...

But the dreadful Storm bursted back to the front of her mind once more. She just couldn't shake that grey giant, no matter how much she tried. The stupid look on his face, the stupid bowing and apologizing.

And...

 _"I don't care! I'm gonna get less dumber n' more smarter n' I'm doing it rite here, rite now! So don't give up, Wave!"_

The words he spoke... they were the most persistent things she kept thinking about. Which is something she never thought she would... think. Storm, the king of dumb, saying things that actually make her think. HER. She was the smart one, he was the dumb one, it was the natural order. It would make sense if SHE said something to HIM that was profound and kept resurfacing in his memory.

But this... was the other way around. It wasn't right, it just wasn't right! Why did his voice persist in her brain?

 _"I nevah stop a workout aftah only 15 minutes! We barely warmed up, now c'mon! Mo' gear stuff, less go!"_

Good gods, she could see his ignorant smiling face. Wave dunked her head past the layer of suds and into the warming depths of her expensive tub. Trying to wash her mind clear of the robust albatross and his meaningless rambling. Like he actually wanted to learn about gear, he was in the workshop for the same reason she was: Jet ordered them to go there. She was right there when they got the orders.

So why... in the world... did he pretend to want to learn? What... what was the point in that? Was he trying to... make fun of her? Secretly was he laughing in his head at her? Calling her a nerd, a geek, a egghead, behind her back? Who did he think he was?! The heliotrope shade girl swiftly pulled her face back out of the water, letting some of her frustration out in the action.

In an effort to calm herself, she raised her purple clad hands to her forehead and smoothed down the feathers trailing off her head in two big appendages. But it wasn't working too well. The voice of the baritone boy still rattled around in her head.

 _"It ain't a win if we give up! It's a give up! And I'm notta givah-uppah, Wave!"_

What a retarded thing to say, even for him! Not a giver-upper, what even is that?! And he got on her case for using the word "dingus", which by the way, is an informal word, but a real word nevertheless. How could he be so stupid, and so self-righteous at the same time?! What an absurdly annoying combination.

The mechanic girl continued to brush her feathers back, trying to soothe herself into a relaxing state. She was spiraling and she knew it. Wave couldn't afford to waste this time on thinking about Storm. She had to come up with a plan to get Jet off of her case when he finally figures out she bailed on the avian behemoth.

Perhaps she could tell him she was giving him solo study time, yeah, that could work. Then she'll distract her younger leader with some gold, or maybe some pearls. He had an affinity for pearls as of late, if she was remembering that correctly-

 _"Becuz dah Boss believes in me! He's countin' on me tah be bettah! And I wanna be bettah!"_

Damn it, Storm, get out of my head!

His deep husky voice kept filtering in her train of thought, making her feel a pressure in her chest. One that she wasn't familiar with at all. Like... what Storm was saying... mattered to her on some level...

"Ugh, no way" she said to herself, inwardly mocking the large boy for added distance between her mind and her odd feelings. Like she had previously confirmed, Storm didn't want to "be better", he just does whatever Jet tells him to do, like she did. There was nothing more to it, nothing deeper, nothing worth lingering on for. And Jet didn't believe in him, he just wanted the two of them out of his way for a couple weeks! This whole situation meant nothing to either of them, and it DAMN SURE didn't mean anything to her.

Frankly, it's their fault she walked out on Storm. Yeah, they should have known she would figure this out. They should have realized that this was doomed from the start! Because no one ever wants to listen to her about-

Wave froze her repeated self-petting and felt her eyes widen in shock. The warmth of the water suddenly feeling a lot more cool than she knew it was. The thought that had been hiding in the back of her head for the entire day. The one she didn't want to acknowledge. Because... she didn't want to admit how true it was. But she was alone... and she wasn't going to say it aloud... so maybe it would be okay to say it in her head... just this once.

"No one ever wants to listen to me talk about Gear... no one ever wants to listen to me talk, period" her hands curled to her sides reflexively, not registering the unfortunately familiar motion, her head turning to the side distastefully as the feelings of neglect made themselves known in her heart. Lavender eyelids slowly shut on her eyes, covering her self-conscious gaze, giving her a brief moment of silence...

"... whatever... " she whispered spitefully to herself, before lifting her skinny frame out of her extravagant bathtub, escaping the comfort of the bubbles foaming off the sides of the pearly white container. Her slender legs raised her to her full height, and with a huff she let out some pent up frustration.

The frazzled magenta teenager continued to shift through her thoughts as she got to her bathroom wall next to her fancy sink, taking a few multicolored towels adorning a rack and proceeding to wrap herself in them. She was the only person, the only Babylonian, that cared about the mechanics of Extreme Gear. That was her real problem with all of this. She didn't have anyone to interact with who truly appreciated the ancient advanced technology.

Jet's primary objectives were treasure and speed, in that order. His father taught him about Gear in order to be a skilled rider and a good leader of the Rouges. That was as deep as his interest in Extreme Gear went, it was a means to an end. She tried several times to engage in conversations, brainstorms, general social activities about Gear, but she never got far with him. Most of what she said went over his head and annoyed him, the other stuff he simply ignored. Jet was a rider, the most skilled rider of the three of them, but a rider only. Jet didn't feel excited about Extreme Gear itself, he was excited about the way he worked with the Gear to be the great leader of the best band of thieves in the world.

And Storm CLEARLY cared nothing about Extreme Gear, the fact that she kept having to repair the damages he made to it was evidence of that. Storm thought even less of Extreme Gear than Jet did. He would drop it, bang it against a wall, SMACK PEOPLE IN THE HEAD WITH IT, BLOCK FREAKING BULLETS AND EXPLOSIONS WITH IT-

"Nope. Nuh-uh, I will not give him the satisfaction" breathed the haughty swallow, as she smoothed her long pigtail-like spikes, before curling a separate towel on top of her head. Honestly, the boys were nothing like her, which is why it was so frustrating for her.

They weren't like her father, the man that taught her everything she knew about Gear. He imputed his deep respect and appreciation for their transportation marvels in her from the moment she could talk. Sometimes it would just be her and him, talking about the mechanics of the boards, his past encounters with Extreme Gear building and maintaining, her interesting questions, for hours and hours on end. For her father, Gear was the most important piece of their heritage, it was the reason the Babylonians survived as long as they did, it was... it was their way of life...

And ever since he... left... she's had no one to relish this major aspect of her life with.

So for Jet to just thrust this teaching thing on her so suddenly and for Storm to PRETEND to care, made her so upset she couldn't even see straight! They were spitting on everything that mattered to her. And more importantly, why _didn't_ this stuff matter them? Why was she the _only one_ that valued the importance of Extreme Gear? They used their Gear EVERY DAMN DAY, how is this not important to them too?

The heliotrope shade fowl, wrapped in a chocolate brown towel, sauntered out of her tiled private bathroom, to her dimly lit adjoined bedroom. The small purple feathered mechanic stepped across the familiar zig zag patterned glossy wood floor, across her dark peach room with golden accents, to her mirrored nightstand. The lavishness of the environment a regular sight to her; she had expensive taste, which was just fine with her, especially when she had earned and/or stolen everything she had. She deserved whatever lavish things this world had to offer, considering they would always be affordable, so to speak.

But as she opened the classic Victorian style drawers of her elegant Vanity, she couldn't stop her mind from going back to the whole situation with Storm in the workshop. Wave wasn't trying to make herself angry again, in fact she was trying to just put it all behind her and deal with Jet's mouth tomorrow (She had to remember to set some of her gold aside to approach him with in the morning). Hopefully, he would never find out. And if he did find out, maybe the gold would convince him to forgive her and understand how stupid this entire idea was.

Let's face it: Storm is the undisputed champion of the moronic. There was no amount of "lessons" and "tutoring" that would change that. She spent so much time today trying to get him to understand the simplest thing, and he couldn't get it!

... Well... he did sort of get it... but barely. He barely got it.

Still... a part of Wave had to admit... even after she unloaded how daunting the task before him was... he was still willing to sit there and learn... and whether she would admit it aloud or not, that was a... half way decent quality.

Now that she thought about it, she really wasn't expecting Storm to act the way he did. I mean, she didn't hold back on the abrasive and just plain malicious attitude toward him and the guy didn't insult her directly at all. Not one time! And that's like... THEIR THING! But he kept his temper under control. Something if Wave was being honest with herself, she hadn't even attempted to do.

Wait. Waitwaitwaitwait.

Was she... complimenting him, just now?

Gods, she was more out of whack than she thought! Shivering the barely respectful thoughts she conjured up, the sassy bird wrapped her ruby neckless around her short neck and proceeded to get her pajamas on.

It was the day right after a job and the gang usually had their sleeping schedules out of sync with their regular routine. Once all the planning and preparations were set, they all stayed up waiting for the opportune moment to carry out the job, which was usually around the unholy hours of 1am to 5am. By the time they got home, argued, divided up the spoils, and had Gear tune ups, they were ready for bed but it would only be noon.

So despite the sun being high in the air, the daytime atmosphere coming into full swing, Wave was ready to drop for the next 6-8 hours in that endlessly comfy memory-foam bed she was seriously considering marrying. And with swift, yet lazy movements, Wave was dressed for another intimate occasion with her lovely mattress and sheets. All she had to do was put her glasses on the nightstand and...

Purple fingers made contact with the area the glasses should have been, right on her forehead on top of her beloved bandana, but there was nothing there. The control freak girl swiveled her body around, scanning the room for her missing eyewear. She knew she had them today, when does she not have them? Where could they-

"Ugggggghhhh, they're in the workshop, aren't they?" tiredly groaned the frantic mechanic. Great, now she had to walk all the way there and back. I mean, she could have left them there, got them tomorrow... but she really liked having her stuff WITH her... besides, Storm could have broken them and she would rather not wake up to that news. Might as well find out now, go to his room and KILL HIM now, then go to sleep in peace after.

The light steps of the swallow quietly sounded off as she made her way to her mahogany door and swung it open. Bursting out of her room with nothing but her pajamas on was not a "new" thing necessarily, but she just wasn't comfortable with walking around in her pajamas. Please, she had a reputation of being fabulous and elegant, she wasn't one of those people that just lazed about all day. Well, she DID laze about some days, but she never LOOKED like she lazed about all day.

Point was, she was uncomfortable, tired, and was sincerely grateful Jet and Storm were not gonna see her like this. They were both most likely asleep in their rooms, and she was certainly about to follow suit. The magenta feathered girl just wanted today to be over. Rounding the familiar corner and placing her uncovered hand on the familiar handle, she just knew she was about to get her wish. No more annoying tasks for today, no more Jet yelling at her, and definitely no more Stor-

Wave jolted as soon as she opened the door and peered inside the workshop. She was so lost in thought that she didn't realize the lights were still on. And... that there was a person in there. A big person.

After the initial shock wore off, the startled swallow widened her eyes, shocked at the sight she beheld. There, in the exact same spot, was Storm, laboring over the giant papers she left behind. He had a serious, dare she say, determined look on his face as he looked at both the papers and some replacement Gear parts she had lying around. He hadn't even heard her come in, he seemed to be reading and thinking out loud to himself.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. The grey brute was... studying the blueprints. Without even realizing it, the shorter girl slowly stepped towards the massive avian deep in thought. What was this? Why was he doing this? Was he for real? He had to be, she was gone for hours, she took her sweet time with getting back to her room and even then she hung out on her bed for a while before going to the bathtub.

Had he been... sitting here the whole time... trying to understand whatever he could... all by himself..? Did he always have this in him..? The actual ability to DO THIS?

Was this the same Storm that continuously pissed her off? This couldn't be. He couldn't be so... different from what she was used to seeing him as. I mean, he was just a dumb goof who liked flexing and punching stuff.

This wasn't who Storm was... right? Yet, Wave couldn't take her eyes off of the sight, even as she moved closer, listened more closely to him, he was focused, unwavering, determined to gain this knowledge. And that WASN'T STORM AT ALL-

 _"I won't give up, becuz I refuse tah stay where I am! I'll nevah be satisfied wit where I am! I'm always tryin' tah get strongah, toughah, fastah! Always! Becuz dat's what life's 'bout, Wave!"_

The heaviest of the baritone bird's words shot through her memory like a freight train, shattering her preconceived conception of her idea of who the tirelessly laboring man in front of her was. The suddenness of it all had forced the tiny bewildered teenager to her knees, the sound catching the attention of the towering grey bird.

With a quick turn of his massive form, he looked down and saw Wave staring back up at him. "Oh, Wave! It's you! Ya came back!" he smiled and it was then that the girl's suspicions had been denied. Up to this point, she was certain, absolutely certain, that he had to have left the room, done other things, went to the kitchen to eat, something, the whole time she was gone. But the bags under his eyes, the tired sound of his voice... it gave her the answer she thought she knew.

He hadn't moved from that spot since she left. He hadn't rested, taken a break, nothing.

And that shook her. She was so sure that this wasn't important to him, that learning about Gear wasn't something that interested either of her companions. Sure that she was the only one left that cared about Gear the way it deserved to be cared about. And on some level, she refused to believe that she wasn't.

... But this... this wasn't the behavior of someone who didn't care at least a little... all this effort meant something... _it had to_. Wave wasn't sure what had gotten into Storm, but she had to admit, at least this once... she liked this tiny part of him...

When this was all said and done, he really didn't give up. Once he had a goal in mind, it appeared that he strove for that goal with all his might until he achieved it. Who could dislike that quality, even if it belong to Storm?

"Yo, Wave? Ya aight?" he asked concerned, Wave could tell, it was GENUINE concern. For her! On top of this bombshell of a hidden character trait, he was concerned about the one person on the planet that has given him zero reason to warrant that emotion.

Perhaps that's why she said what she said. Perhaps she was just so tired, and Storm had accidentally said and done all the right things to fool her into saying it. Perhaps she had bumped her head on her way to the workshop and her mental defenses were down. Whatever it was, the walls of the aggressive and abrasive little genius crumbled a bit for the first time. And without her express permission her mouth to croaked out something she hadn't expected to be said:

"... Okay, fine... I'll teach you about Gear... for real this time..."


	6. Pre-Riders Part 6

_Hey all, thanks for waiting! I was making a Youtube channel, which was harder than it looked, let me tell you. So anyway, thanks for over 500 views! You guys rock, and please enjoy! ^v^_

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The gargantuan Storm looked between the two Extreme Gear parts in her delicate hands, trying his hardest to remember what either of them were for so he could get Wave to stop staring daggers into his face, like she was doing currently. It was only a night ago that she suddenly decided to be his teacher for real, and boy, he was kinda wishing she hadn't. Ever since 6 am, she's been railing on him to get the names of Gear parts, the material they're made of, and the function they serve memorized. Like, who could possibly memorize all that complicated stuff in ONE AFTERNOON?!

"Well?!" a sudden, frightening voice harshly asked, expecting an immediate reply. The frightened bulky boy jolted backwards in his seat, the sight of Wave's piercing gaze making him strain to get some words out.

"Ah... uh... dis is... no uh, wait... dis one is...uhhhhhhh-" he stagnated, irritating the already fuming magenta avian.

"If you don't stop holding that same dumb syllable and say actual words in the next four seconds, I'll be using your head as a hammer for the next. 7. WEEKS. So answer. NOW." sinisterly forebode Wave, not relinquishing her gaze from his, making his blood run cold.

"... Dis is ah flex crushah... n' it's made outta... pillidiumite..?" Storm nervously squeaked out, contrary to his normally forceful and strong presence.

"WRONG ANSWER!" nearly cutting him off, the nibble, scary girl jumped on top of the table and in one motion grabbed the top of Storm's head and forced it into the table. The sheer speed of it allowed her to do this without the bigger, stronger, thief to stop it from happening. Wave could be terrifying when she wanted to be, this wasn't new to him. But this was just unreal, he barely registered her moving her hands to his head!

"What da heck is wrong witchu, ya psycho?!" the towering grey behemoth shouted angrily, losing his previous composure he promised to Jet he would keep.

"The question is, what is wrong with YOU, imbecile! I thought you wanted to know about Extreme Gear! What's with all of this complaining and incorrect answers?!" questioned the haughty purple feathered mechanic, still standing on the table and staring her larger student in the face.

"Ya jus' slammed mah face into da table, who wouldn't be complainin', huh?!" reasoned Storm, hefty fingers tending to the stinging pain in his beak while his other hand flailed about to illustrate his point. But the lean smartass staring back at him, closed her eyes and sneered.

"A real tough guy, aren't ya?" Coyly jabbed the gearhead. That was the soft spot.

" 'EY! I AM TOUGH! I'm toughah than you'll evah be, miss stuck up, know it all, geek- I mean Wave!" Storm insulted, before catching himself. He had to keep his promise, he just had to! Even if she was making it next to impossible!

"Good to know! In that case, go do laps around the hall until I say stop! Maybe then, you'll get serious and learn this stuff for real!" commanded the mischievous technician. She knew she could throw her weight around, however little she had, and by the gods she was gonna throw it. Besides, he deserved it, the big lummox, he had to be slacking off. This will teach him to be as serious as he was yesterday.

"Wave, why do ya have to be so mean?!" the simple meathead asked, truly wanting to know the answer. His tone was almost painful... and Wave didn't like it. That made a cold sensation rush through her stomach and it was not supposed to do that.

"I SAID RUN LAPS, NOT MOUTH FLAPS! ON YOUR FEET, MAGGOT!" spitefully threatened the heliotrope swallow. She needed him to get out as much as he needed to be punished. At least, that's what Wave thought. And she was going to make sure he got the message that she was serious about it. Eventually he did.

"Aight, aight. I'll do da laps..." sighed the strong Storm, as he walked out the door dejected. Leaving Wave to stew in her aggravation. The sudden quite of the room had her feeling uncomfortable, so she lashed out at the open air.

"Ughhhh! What is wrong with him?! He's serious about this, I know it, but he's just not getting it like he should! What kind of super stupid does he have ailing him?!" she screamed to the open air, her hands stretched above her head in frustration. The small mechanic was at her wits end for the 10th time that morning. She wasn't sure what was the problem. Before, it was her lack of faith in his commitment to learning Gear and her disinterest in trying to teach him that blocked any knowledge gaining. But they were over those pitfalls now, so why wasn't he getting it?!

Snow white gloves smoothed her long purple feathers that flowed from her head, calming her down. Stressing out wasn't going to get her anywhere, she knew that. But damn it all, this situation was just too frustrating. What did she need to do for that imbecile to understand the material? Sing it in a showtune? The very thought made the pretty avian lurch and shudder in disgust.

With the sound of heavy footsteps coming closer, Wave leaned on the table, drained mentally and not paying attention to the object her hand managed to slightly nudge. The sound of shifting metal caught her attention, as she turned her crystal blue eyes to the source of the quickly fading resonance, Wave's mouth automatically opened partially.

Looking back at her was something she hadn't remembered taking out from her special tool box. It was an old welding torch, rusted over, decrepit and at the same time beautiful to see. Her beak curled into a pleasant smile as she delicately picked up the old torch and slowly traced her eyes over its every surface. Gods, it still looked good. Not as good as it used to but... she's taken pretty good care of it...

Without her permission or prompting, her father's face popped into her mind, memories so vivid and fresh, she could scarcely realize she wasn't a child learning from her genius father. She barely remembered that he was gone...

Lost in the familiar scene taking place in her mind's eye, Wave looked up at her father, a proud smile on his face. She held up the torch he had yet to ask her to hand to him, but the young swallow had anticipated his next step in the building process and fetched it swiftly. And that earned her his surprised and impressed smile of gratitude. He laughed a little, patting her head with a crispy burnt, dirty glove. The feeling of it was too comfortable to describe for her.

It was always like this, just her, him, and Extreme Gear. The nitty gritty of it, the scientific magnitude of it, the elaborate theories and prototypes and experiments: it was heaven. The heliotrope girl and her dad would live among the Gear parts and tools, the blueprints were their wallpaper, the experiments were their television shows, the tuning and polishing of their tools was their full day of play. He was her everything and she was his; it was beautiful, no, even more than beautiful. It was magical...

That man was her idol, her best friend, her confidant, and her teacher. Learning about Gear from him? It was the most stimulating and enlightening experience of her life. He was just so good at everything he did and he was so eager to share his knowledge with her. Every bit of what he had was passed down to her with a voice so kind... so loving... so gentle... she couldn't help but hang onto every single syllable...

Sudden stomping and shaking rudely brought her back to the present, where a silent old torch looked up at her. She hadn't realized she was crying until a tear lifted itself out of her eyelid, but with a quick sniff and wipe of her cheek, it was gone and no one would ever know she had a moment of weakness.

Wave looked out over the table, quickly looking for any other cherished item from her father to hid back in his box, and when she found none, she walked over to the wall behind her, adorned in shelves. Slowly, she meandered to the oldest box in the room and traced a longing hand over the scribbled name of her father on the face of the box.

God she missed him... he would know what to do in her situation. He would know how to teach even the emptiest of skulls about Gear. And he would do it in his soft, gentle, kind voic-

Wave inhaled quickly, her eyes shot wide open in realization. That's it... That's it! That was the problem!

Storm not being sincere (and also being the town idiot of idiot-ville), wasn't the problem. Her not wanting to teach him wasn't even the issue. It was...

"My teaching..." she breathed unpleasantly. As the booming steps of her grey giant companion passed by the room, his huffing and puffing able to be heard as he ran, she turned her back to the shelves and sank to the floor. It was her with the problem... and that's something she NEVER thought she would think.

Comparing the way she learned about Gear to Storm's way he's learning, the fundamental difference was their teachers. She got a kind, loving father who was proud of her and happy to teach her everything he knew. Storm got... an admittedly bitter, standoffish, enemy with an attitude, a physically abusive streak, and the longest running insult list to throw complex information at him. Dare she admit to any further wrongdoing, he was NEVER going to be able to understand anything coming from someone like that.

Someone that he knows hates him. The swallow put her hands on her head, her fingers slightly digging into her cotton bandana. This revelation was... tough to digest for her. Because honestly, even knowing that she was at fault wasn't convincing her to change her approach. "Sucks to be him", was her response. "He better man up" was the follow up comment.

And when she got up from the floor in a huff, she fooled herself into thinking that was the appropriate mindset. But as Storm's labored breathing echoed out of the silence, slowly getting clearer and clearer, she felt a twinge of something in her heart. (Was it her heart or her stomach? Because if stomach, her reasoning was she was just hungry)

But when the albatross poked his head back in the workshop, sweat pouring off of his form, she realized the feeling inside of her was indeed her heart. And she did not like this feeling. It was hollow, deep... almost painful.

"Yo, I'm... I'm spent Wave... Can I... can I stop... runnin' now..?" he struggled between breaths.

"Gee I don't know, Storm. Did I SAY STOP?! GET TO STEPPING, YOU OVERGROWN GREY BLOB!" she shouted violently before throwing a vice at him, creaking the door with the projectile. The frightened brute quickly scurried from the door and back to running down the hall. The quieting room was Wave's answer to her unasked question.

Nope, that did not make the feeling go away. That made it worse.

... crap. She was actually going to have to change to help Storm, wasn't she? Ugh, that wasn't going to be easy. After all, she used to kicking him while he's down, Jet was the one that was nice to him... half of the time. She was the bossy one, she didn't do... "nice". Especially to people so dumb, she could literally count on one hand how many things he actually "knows how to do".

However... she did put her word out there, that she would teach him for real. And not changing her teaching method would mean... she would be going back on her word. Wave didn't usually give her word on things (precisely for this express reason) but when she did, she stood on it. Like her father taught her.

In a way, she was also doing this for him. He never intended her to have all of this knowledge and keep it to herself. He never wanted the knowledge he gave her to make her feel cut off from her family, rather, he wanted the exact opposite. He wanted the knowledge and expertise of Extreme Gear to be one of the central ideals that bind the Babylons together. And goodness gracious, thinking of him watching her now... she felt ashamed.

Her father was the type to share freely whatever information he had to anyone willing to accept it. Sharing knowledge with others, man, that was his purpose in life, she supposed. She remembered him saying something like that on a few occasions...

Not only him, but Jet was also counting on her to help Storm. Even though it was a thinly veiled attempt to get them to stop arguing in his earshot and to punish them for getting on his nerves all these years, he was still the appointed leader of the Babylon Rogues. And more than anything else, she had an obligation to him to follow his orders, especially if they are for the betterment of the crew. And honestly, Wave wanted them to be better. If Storm knew more about Gear, that would make them better... even if he could only understand the basics.

As Wave stood to her feet and walked to the now wounded door, she poked her head out of the threshold and looked for Storm. Inhaling deeply to scream for him to get back to the workshop, she stopped in the middle of it, when she looked down slightly and saw him crawling on the floor. He was so tired, clearly, and she supposed he had earned a break from all of the drill sergeant nonsense.

"Hey Speedy, get back in here. You can stop with the laps" Wave said nonchalantly, trying to hide the smile that creeped to her face when she realized how funny he sounded when he was out of breath. Like a sweating ham, she remarked to herself.

Pathetically, Storm managed to drag himself back to the workshop and get back in his stool, which fell over twice before he could actually sit on it. As he finally got his butt in the seat and his labored breathing quieted down, Wave looked at him seriously. In the end, whether or not her father or Jet was counting on her or not, she had one person that was counting on her the most. And that was him.

Sure he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box. He wasn't even a working bulb, he was just the outside part without any of the inner wiring to make it light up. But he was trying his best to get this, he was trying harder than she had ever seen anyone try. Despite all of her contempt and antagonizing, he was trying his best. He never wavered, he never faltered, he never gave up, even though she was actively rooting against him and trying her best to make him suffer.

Storm was pushing himself past his limit. He was certainly pushing himself past the limit of what Wave had ever pushed herself to do. That amount of effort, that determination, that sheer... gusto, deserved to be rewarded. Whether it was coming from someone she disliked or not.

Besides, if someone is putting their all into something she can help them with... it would only be fair if she put her all into it too, right? With her mind made up, and her next action to take clear, Wave held up the two pieces of Gear tech from before. Only this time, she actively tried to avoid glaring at him.

"Okay... these two parts are called what, are made of what, and serve what purpose?" she ground out of her mouth as pleasantly as she was able. It wasn't exactly pleasant coming out, but for her, it was a decent improvement. Storm, confused by this shift in her tone of voice, simply looked at her with his head cocked to the side. He wanted to ask what she was doing, but he decided against that. Wave DID NOT like him asking her questions, so might as well try to remember what the heck the two doo-dads in her hands were.

"Uhhhhhhhh..." he uttered for a long moment, before clamping his large hands over his beak. The worry on his face was clear and visceral.

"SORRY SORRY SORRY, I DIDN'T MEAN TAH SAY UH, WAVE-SIR-NOT-MA'AM SIR! I, UH, JUST, UHHHHH- OH CRAP, I SAID IT AGAIN!" frantically shouted Storm, moving between explaining and comically guarding himself against whatever inevitable blow he was about to be dealt by the short-tempered girl. But to his surprise, no attack came.

"Storm, stop apologizing! Just... just try to remember what I said earlier. Don't worry about saying um or whatever... just answer as best you can" Wave, surprising herself, said calmly and not at all abrasively (okay maybe a little abrasive). Storm's eyes widened in surprise as he slowly dropped his arms and stared at her face.

The massive bird couldn't help but look at her with a curious and fearful expression. She was never this nice to him. Like... EVER. Not even when he was sick that one time and he kept throwing up. She would keep putting chill and pizza in his face, making him barf even more, then she would point and laugh when Jet yelled at him for barfing all over the place. She was mega rough on him all the time.

And suddenly... she's being nice? Something wasn't right...

"Well?! Are you gonna stare at me all day or are you gonna tell me about these parts!?" she angrily retorted. That was more like it. Okay, she's fine.

Storm altered his attention from the angry Wave to the Gear parts that menacingly confronted him. Oh, he wasn't sure if he remembered what they were called and junk... but she had to have told him recently... just need to remember...

Storm's uh's came back with a vengeance and though that irritated Wave immensely, she quietly clenched her teeth together and tolerated it. She was being nice today. She had to be nice today. However, the niceness was about to run out if Storm held that single syllable for another 5 seconds.

And just when Wave felt like she could take no more...

"Dat's uh flex coupler, it's made outta, uhhhhh, steel. An' it's fo' protectin' duh exhaust... part... thingy?"

... what?

What?

WHAT?

DID STORM JUST GET THAT RIGHT?

"An' dis one is, uhhhhhh lasah emittah, 'n it's made outta, ummmm, GaAs n' AlGaAs, n' it's fo' burnin' da stuff in da engine dat could mess up da rest o' da Gear's... guts n'... stuff... I think?" he ended with a higher pitched inflection, honestly unaware that he was blowing Wave's mind.

WHAAAAAAT?!

HE GOT THEM BOTH RIGHT?!

Now it was Wave's turn to give Storm the shocked and confused look. She wasn't sure if she should pelt him with lug nuts for pretending he didn't know what they were this whole time, or if she should be happy that she found the way to get the information through his thick skull. She was leaning toward the latter simply because she was ready for some good news to come out of all of this. Plus he's shown he isn't hopeless, all that dedication and junk had to pay off at some point. She just didn't know it would be this quick!

"Uh, Wave? Did I get it rite?" gently asked the ignorant albatross.

"As much as it surprises me to say it, you did Storm!" happily confirmed the mecha genius. Storm's mouth quickly shot open in shock, causing Wave to laugh a little automatically.

"FO' REALZ?!" simple minded Storm asked incredulously.

"For reals, Storm!" she assured again, throwing her arms at him in gladness.

"I MEAN, SERIOUSLY? CUZ I WASN'T SURE DAT WAS RITE!" Storm followed suit, still trying to believe that he actually got something right.

"Well it was! I'm finally getting somewhere with you!" giggled Wave before she conceitedly complemented herself. She really was amazing, she thought to herself.

"AW YEAH! WOOOOOOOOOOO-!"

"NO CHANTING!" Wave's happiness dissolved quickly as Storm started elongating a loud cheer again. With a quick maneuver, the violent heliotrope maniac bashed him over the head with a monkey wrench. Storm's eyes shut on impact, but his smile never faltered.

"- OOOOOoooooo! I dids it! Hahahaha!" the robust buffoon laughed after ending his cheer quickly.

"You mean, I did it!" Wave haughtily corrected, a coy expression on her face. Her lumbering grey companion, still laughing looked down at her and smiled gently.

"How 'bout... 'we' dids it?" offered the deep voiced bird, his tone pleasant and warm smile caught her off guard, silencing her for a few short seconds. The purple feathered girl mentally shook herself and got her train of thought back on its tracks, before responding to him.

"... fine. WE did it..." compromised the normally defiant and antagonistic Wave. And her reward was a impossibly airy chuckle from the large boy. The soft, smooth laugh that came from him had her feeling derailed again. What was it about him sounding so happy that had her stomach flip? She wasn't sure she liked that feeling, but without her knowledge a smile crept to her face and the words just... snuck out.

"Good job..." quietly complimented the confused swallow.

"Whatcha say, Wave?" innocently inquired the grey giant, leaning in closer to her so he could hear her. But his action just made Wave more irked and embarrassed by her unsanctioned words. Leaning back she placed more Gear parts on the table, swifter than necessary, but shocking Storm enough to get him to sit back.

"I said our job isn't over yet! I've got a lot more to teach you, so prepare yourself for some rigorous lectures, Storm!" covered up Wave, her body dramatically posed to further distance her compliment, which was not intentional at all, from the simple minded Storm.

"Well, bring it on, sir Wave-not-ma'am sir!" and it clearly worked, seeing as he was back to erroneously saluting her.

"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THE SIRS AND THE MA'AMS, YOU COLOSSAL BRICK?!" the agitated purple girl roared before tossing a ball-peen hammer into the unfortunate brute's face. The blow's suddenness caught him off guard and tilted him off of the stool, while causing his arm to flip the table across the room accidentally.

Well, it was a work in progress anyway...

* * *

 _Next chapters are gonna be fun y'all. Let this humble little ship finally set sail nufufufu ¬w¬_


	7. Pre-Riders Part 7

It was hard to understand how fast the days rolled by for Storm and Wave. Today marks the 5th week since Storm's Extreme Gear lessons began and after quite a bleak start, the two birds persevered and were now in a comfortable flow. In just this time, Storm had managed to grasp 4 of 49 Extreme Gear systems, and they were currently working on their 5th. Sure, this was pretty slow compared to Jet and Wave's comprehension of the Gear systems; but Wave was just happy that some progress was being made.

During this period, she had actually managed to relax around Storm, and vice versa. While the heliotrope avian would never say they were friends... they were definitely something more civil than before.

"Okay, now this is when you'll need your trusty Phillip's head screwdriver, apply the appropriate amount of pressure on this side of the magnetic footprint aaaaaand..." Wave half enthusiastically advised as she demonstrated this delicate procedure. Her large grey student focused intently on the end of the tool in her hand as she gingerly pressed the tip of the screwdriver on the magnetic foothold. After a second of silence, the hum of the magnets increased in volume before quickly dipping down to a satisfying whisper.

"It readjusts itself to the appropriate settings" she quickly moved the screwdriver from the Gear skeleton construct they were working with and looked up at Storm. His expression disbelieving and wary. There had to be more to it than that, right? But the two thieves simply stared at each other in silence for a moment, the toned mechanic telling him without words that he could ask the question he wore on his face.

"... Dats it?" flatly asked the towering brute, looking down at Wave from the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, that's it" was her candid reply, a smug grin on her face.

"Fo' reals?" Storm asked again, still not really believing it.

"For reals, big guy. Why don't you give it a shot?" Wave offered, lifting the screwdriver to her larger companion. Storm stared down at the thin tool, a nervous expression on his visage while his eyes shifted tentatively between the screwdriver, the Extreme Gear skeleton, and Wave's expectant gaze. After Storm's eyes went through the cycle of items a few more times he paused on Wave's face.

For as long as he could remember, when she looked at him there was always a sharp and abrasive expression on her face. Wave usually had an unpleasant look pointed his way, mostly due to him coming to her with a broken board, or having recently given her a call detailing his understandable errors and missteps on a job. Even if there was no actual problem, the smaller thief and Storm had a running animosity stemming from their fundamental differences in life.

Storm was the laid-back lifter of the group, not concerned with much beyond working out and paling around with Jet. While he did cook and help carry heavy things around the base, that was the extent of his responsibility. Wave was the den mother and frankly the most intelligent of the rogues. Concerned with literally keeping the ship afloat and everything else that goes with taking care of two pretty immature teenage boys who are powerful criminals. Not to mention she had zero patience and a large ego, so relating to her was harder than baking bread without wheat.

The two of them were meant to clash from the beginning and Storm found that her insulting scowl was her default expression. He thought that's just how her face looked. And right now, she didn't have that look. Her eyes (were they always _that_ blue?) weren't hiding behind a pointed brow, they were... soft. Inviting... encouraging... what a welcomed change, he thought to himself.

Her smile, usually appearing at the end of a particularly scathing insult or in response to him making a fool of himself, was still smug... but there was a different emotion behind that smugness. The normal idea of needing to make that smile disappear as soon as possible to get a leg up on her... was gone...

Replaced by this fuzzy warmth deep in his stomach, blossoming into his chest and all the way up to his brain. This smile lifted a weight from his shoulders, so much so that he found himself leaning back, only realizing as he moved that he was tensely sitting straight up this whole time. This smile... he wanted it to be there... silently compelling him to be relax and trust her.

And suddenly he had taken the screwdriver out of her hand and was moving it toward the electromagnetic footprint laying patiently in front of him. It slightly scared him, seeing as he hadn't registered the movement of his hand until it was about to do the task. That warmth, even in this quick fear still hadn't abandoned him either... and neither had her smile. Wave gave him an encouraging head tilt toward the concept gear on the table, slightly raising her brow to emphasize the motion.

With a confused start, massive hands clutched the instrument, careful not to squeeze too hard, and put pressure on the exact point that Wave had shown him seconds ago. Sure enough, after a second of silence, the familiar hum of the magnets increased in volume before quickly dipping down to a satisfying whisper. A gentle toss of a random lugnut from his side confirmed the deed's success, the tiny metal piece immediately gravitated down to the now working magnetic footprint.

"Oh woah, it did da thing!" he giddily exclaimed, turning his wide eyes back to Wave. Her smile grew slightly wider and his stomach's heat increased, without his permission. While the weight kept shedding from his shoulders.

"See, it's that easy. Even you can do it" jested the seasoned mechanic, a sly edge to her tone. Reflexively, his large fingers reached up and rubbed the fluff of feathers adorning his head. That was Wave for ya, he supposed. Though this particular exercise beckoned a happy memory to Storm's mind.

"Heh heh heh! Wish I woulda known dis durin' dat job in Downtown Westopolis!" he mentioned casually, basically thinking out loud. He didn't think it would incite the pure joy of nostalgia from Wave and make her develop his throwaway comment into a conversation of a shared memory.

"Hey yeah! I remember that! We hit up that gold reserve with the uh- the uh, uh uh-" she snapped repeatedly as she squeezed her eyes closed, desperately combing through her mind to find the memories to form into words. Upon seeing her struggle, Storm automatically spoke up, before even he knew what he was saying.

"Oh, da cheetah guards!" he had to remind himself to have a talk with his body flying off the handle before his brain is aware of it. But when Wave's eyes flashed open, relief, gratitude, happiness, excitement all culminating into one of the greatest expressions she had every revealed to him, he threw the reminder out.

"Yeah those jokers! Hahahahaha! They hissed like a freaking steam pipe when I locked them out of the vault!" Wave howled cheerfully, the flow of her memory now clear and fresh.

"Hawhawhawhaw! Dem spotted jerks wuz tryin' ta cut da glass outta da lil' window on da door-!" Storm began, between deep baritone chortles.

"With their little claws! Aaaaahahahahah! And then Jet-! Jet floated up to the-!" cackled the callous Wave, fitting in right where Storm left off and surprisingly,

"Window an' he mooned 'em! Bwahahahaha! An'- an'- what'd he say?! Somethin' like- like- boop boop!" she didn't mind him chiming in behind her, his uncouth, forceful laughter rang comfortably in her hearing. However, he was remembering that last part wrong and she couldn't let that stand.

"No, nonono! Hahahaha! He did it- he did it- like this!" she quickly corrected, trying to contain her chuckles until she could do a demonstration, but the memory was just too hilarious for her to contain them all. Completely caught in the moment and devoid of her usual demure, Wave swiftly and sloppily raised herself to the top of the table, careful to move the Gear skeleton as she did, and mentally prepared herself.

As Storm watched on, she closed her eyes for but a moment, and contorted her body into the crude pose known simply as "the moon", her small butt extended outward whilst her hand hovered above it. She flashed her eyes open and proceeded to do the most hilarious imitation of Jet Storm had ever seen.

"WHOMP WHOOOMP!" she cried in as deep a voice she could, playfully smacking her bottom for each... "whomp". Storm immediately fell off of the stool, all the control he had was lost in an instant.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" was his hysterical bellow of a response. Storm's massive body rolled across the floor as he clutched his stomach, which was getting sore from all of the tomfoolery. His small eyes stung a bit and some loose tears trickled down from his face, while his little legs kicked at the air futilely.

Seeing the behemoth reduced to a flailing pile of wracked laughter sent Wave over the edge and her composure went out the window as well. Her legs gave out on her and she found herself propped just above the Extreme Gear equipment she moved away on her ascent to the tabletop. She could scarcely believe she just did that... in front of Storm of all people! The embarrassment mixed with the comedic memory and with a couple of undiscovered feelings had forced the normally mature and rather mean mechanic to drop that mask for once.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" she continued laughing, longer than she thought was necessary, and realized... just how heavy that mask was. And how freeing it was to live without it... if only for a moment.

"Ha ha ha ha! Haaaaa... good times..." Storm finally settled down, wiping the happy tears from his eyes, but making no moves to get up from the floor, or even sit up. Wave followed suit, flipping herself on her back to look up at the ceiling with Storm.

"Yeaaaaah... that was a pretty good score. Jet was real happy" blissfully recalled the heliotrope girl, a satisfied grin on her face. A small chuckle rumbled out of Storm and the image of him smiling just like her materialized in her mind. It took her completely by surprise, causing her to sit up and look over at him, albeit calmer than she thought she would have.

The grin was there, laying peacefully on his face. She should have been weirded out, she should have been freaked beyond freaked. But... she wasn't... Oddly enough, the fact that she and Storm were feeling the same emotions toward one subject... made her feel good. About them, not just about the memory, and it being as equally hilarious for both of the babylonians. It was more about them finally having common ground.

"He sure was. He was cackling for a whole week after the fact" fondly recalled Wave. Jet was happy indeed that week; he smiled wider than she thought possible. Soon, that giddy image of her little leader was replaced by his more recent scowl and disapproving stare, which he was showing a lot more of. Unfortunately.

Wave had to say, she didn't like when Jet was angry with her, she'd much rather prefer his laughing face than anything else. It was just so great seeing him laugh like that...

"It was great, seeing him laugh like that" Storm mentioned sincerely, shocking Wave yet again. She curled her brow in confusion as she took in the grey feathered boy laying below her.

"... I was thinking the same thing..." she whispered out, nearly breathless. With this common ground, the two could easily overlook all of their differences. It had happened in short intervals throughout the weeks, but this was... this was crazy.

"..." Silently, Storm sat up and looked at Wave with surprise in his eyes. He wasn't just understanding her feelings, he was in her head. And from what happened just a few seconds ago, she was in his head too. This freaky turn of events was jarring to say the least for the normally bickering birds. And for a moment, the confused teenagers just stared at each other, quietly trying to decipher the complex feelings that rose in their guts when they locked eyes for an extended period of time.

Like right now. Wave was the first to discern one of the emotions she was feeling, which just so happened to be embarrassed. Not for any particular reason, it was just... she was staring at Storm and he was staring at her and they weren't saying anything and... and that was just weird, okay!

Clearing her throat loudly and scooting off of the tabletop, Wave picked her mask back up, "... anyways. Let's get back to it, ya brickhead! I need you to refresh my memory on this system!"

Storm quickly rose to his feet and walked back to the workplace. He looked down, puzzled by what Wave was pointing at, but he knew she had told him about it once before.

"Dat one? Ok... dat's da... uh... da um... I uh... I forget..." he sheepishly replied.

"Dumb moron! I told you 5 times already! You were supposed to have it memorized already!" yelled Wave, reaching for a ball-peen hammer as she fussed. Storm noticed the movement and immediately backed 3 paces away from her, his hands shot up in a defensive maneuver.

"C'mon Wave, I forget stuff sometimes, ya know I don't mean ta!" he defended, missing the earlier lighthearted moment. Wave placed an exasperated hand on her face and sighed sharply.

"If you don't mean to, then why do you do it so much?!" she shouted, albeit a lot quieter than she usually would have.

"How am I supposed to answer that?!" Storm questioned, at his wits end. She was so tempted to throw that hammer at his face, just as she had a hundred times before.

"Troglodyte..." she spat out. So. Tempted...

"Look, I won't forget this time, promise! Teach me again... please..." Storm begged, honestly wanting another chance to learn the material. His deep blue eyes almost glistened before her and... wow that took the temptation of violence right out of her. That was... surprising. Yet again, she was feeling stunned by the grey giant. But she denied him the satisfaction of knowing that fact.

"Hmph! As if I would let you off the hook by quitting again! Prepare yourself, because I'm gonna drill this into your thick head until you get it!" boldly declared the skinny girl, while she put the hammer back down, silently encouraging him to come back to the table.

"Yes sir, Wave-not-ma'am, sir!" which he gladly did. Unfortunately, that annoying monicker he had given her so long ago was still coming out of his mouth.

"You're really not gonna stop calling me that are you?" she asked dryly as she pulled the blueprint out for what had to be the thousandth time that week.

"Oh, sorry. It's like a habit now" he timidly admitted, scratching the side of his head self-consciously. Wave, looking up at him for a moment, thought back on the good moment they just shared together. They laughed, they joked, he learned, she taught, it was great. It wasn't like she asked for it, but they had a genuinely pleasant moment. And even though they hadn't exactly tried to kill each other too many times during this debacle, she wasn't exactly shying away from having unpleasant moments with Storm.

She was already used to it, so it wasn't a big deal if they had a tense afternoon of arguing and forcing information into his head... but she found herself missing that light moment. She couldn't help but want to go back to that, if just for a moment (sans the embarrassing impression of Jet). Wave was a mature woman, however, and she knew that it wouldn't be possible to force that moment into existence again and she was more than prepared to never see that moment again.

But for the life of her, she just couldn't find a reason to seriously berate him today. She was just... not feeling the whole arguing thing right then. Which is a strange new feeling for her, yes, but one she couldn't bring herself to question, let alone oppose. So Wave, just sighed and did the one thing Storm wasn't expecting her to do.

"... oh well I guess" she shrugged nonchalantly. Reflexively, Storm recoiled his neck in shock, almost like he had a nervous twitch for a second. He couldn't believe what he was witnessing.

" 'Oh well'? Ya not gonna break ma beak fo' dat?" lightly interrogated the albatross. Wave simply sighed as she took out a few tools, slowly so as not to alarm her student.

"If I took a break to physically and verbally assault you EVERY time you got on my nerves, we would never get anywhere. Might as well ignore the small stuff" Wave patiently explained while taking out her last tool and adjusting the large blue paper to place her desired subject directly between her and Storm.

"..." Without tact or subtlety, the brutish boy stared at his smaller companion. She had just... let something go... Wave never let's anything go. Like, EVER! Especially when it came to him. She still gets mad at him for the stuff he did when they were toddlers! He didn't know any better, he was thirsty and her juice box was the only thing in the refrigerator that he could reach, he hadn't learned manners and stuff yet!

But now, all of a sudden, she's dropping something. And she just mentioned that she has been leaving some stuff alone for the past few weeks, which was even more surprising. How had he not noticed that she wasn't lording stuff over him as much anymore? Well, he was running himself ragged trying to learn this Gear stuff, maybe that was diverting his attention from Wave's changing behavior.

Certainly, Storm could be sure that Wave was changing. Before the lessons, heck, the first week of lessons, she was impossible to get along with. There was no way the two of them could just be civil let alone friendly with each other. There was no laughing together, there was no working together around the Babylon Cloud, there was no quality time spent together, outside of heists. They avoided each other completely and when they did interact, it was always an all out brawl with words.

And yet, that Wave who could do nothing but cause him misery, had just made him laugh harder than Jet himself could! She had been encouraging him for weeks, she was pushing him to be better... she smiled at him... a smile that was prideful for herself, yes... but she was proud of him too. And just now, even though he forgets what she tells him and even though he can't stop tagging weird titles onto her name... she's willing to forget it and continue helping him.

"Okay, so for the 6th time, this system here is-" Whether it was the weird feelings he had in his stomach raging up to his head or the need to thank someone who is doing an unbelievable amount of things for him, Storm let his heart speak.

"Dat's pretty cool o' ya, Wave" escaped his mouth, interrupting her lecture.

"Wh... what?" the bewildered girl exhaled in surprise, halting her lesson immediately. A nervous wave enveloped him causing his large hand to rub the back of his neck moving up to the crown of his head as he continued.

"I know dis ain't da easiest thing in da world fo' ya, but ya tryin' ta help me anyways... and dat's... dat's pretty cool o' ya..." he finished with a slow shrug and a small, genuine, wonderful smile. The sight of it burst Wave's chest open, thousands of hot stars spewing out of it like a volcano. Blood rushed to her cheeks faster than she was able to comprehend and the mask once again fell away.

There it was again. That gentle, warm smile that for some annoying reason made her insides feel all... jiggly. And warm. Incredibly warm. So warm that she could feel the start of a sweat coming through her feathers. Gods, what was happening to her? Angry at herself, the situation, and most of all Storm, Wave reclaimed her abrasive mask and scoffed at him.

"... Li- like I need your approval. Just shut up and listen when I'm talking! That's all the thanks I need, nimrod" she attempted to sound like her old, uninterested self. But she could feel that even though her mask was just put back on, it was slipping.

"Hahahaha, you got it, teach!" snickered the grey albatross. It appeared that he could see her mask slipping too. But for whatever reason, he didn't press the issue. Wave mentally appreciated that. But her outward appreciation was voiced a lot differently.

"Goofy simpleton..." she lightly insulted, still stuck on Storm's soft giggles to really come up with a quality insult. Quickly she turned his attention back on Gear, running her finger above the aged blueprint to highlight their area of focus.

"Alright so, this system is for balancing the rider's body weight and turning. The very, _very_ important part of all Extreme Gear"

"Right, gah, I knew that!" Storm said, bopping himself on the head with the heel of his palm for emphasis.

"You just ought to by now!" the smaller mechanic threw her arms up in a half hearted attempt at showing her frustration. Which only gave Storm a quick case of the giggles.

"Hahahaha!" she stared up at him, annoyed... before suddenly finding her cheeks inflating... then her beak folded in on itself, trying her best to keep herself from being infected with a laughing bug. However...

"... pfffft! Hahaha! Stop making me laugh!" she chuckled angrily, lightly punching him in his arm, the weak touch amusing him even more.

"Hahahaha!" their laughter rang through the workshop and outside of the walls. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, they were the only ones that were in this part of the airship nowadays. But unbeknownst to the carefree birds, there was a third party coming their way. A third party that had been dreading this moment for a while now.

The green hawk tentatively walking down the hall had rather enjoyed the 2 weeks that their Gear lessons began on. "Peaceful" was an understatement, he had gotten a freaking vacation in essence. He spent his days counting his treasure, practicing some new moves, both on his board and off, and the amount of sleep he's gotten has been dangerously unhealthy. Yes, he has slept so much, _he has grown tired of sleeping_.

He hated to admit it, but getting what he wanted... wasn't as satisfying as it should have been. He realized this at the 3rd week mark. He was trying to find other things to keep himself occupied, he didn't want to bother them while they were trying to work, Gods and ancestors, he was NOT trying to upset the delicate balance of this grand experiment.

But after counting all the tiles on his office ceiling out of sheer boredom, he resigned himself to taking the risk. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen Storm and Wave the whole time, it was just when he saw them it was in passing and they were both always so tired afterward. He knew he was pretty hard on them and he didn't want to give the impression that they were doing something wrong by working diligently to follow his orders.

BUT FOR THE GODS SAKES, HE COUNTED 376 CEILING TILES YESTERDAY! This madness had to end! _They_ were supposed to be the ones getting punished, not _him_! He missed playing video games with his big, dumb Storm. He missed watching reality tv and insulting everyone that came on screen with his mature, crazy Wave. He missed eating meals together...

 _He just missed them..._

So today, he decided to visit them. It had been 4 weeks and 6 days and neither of them were dead or permanently disfigured, which completely took him by surprise, Jet mentally breathed a sigh of relief when he realized the bet he lost was never made with anyone. Jet was definitely proud of them... but they could use a break, right? Storm could, at the very least.

So when he heard the sound of lighthearted laughter, his interest was piqued. Had Wave tripped and flung some stuff across the room to cause Storm to laugh that loud? As he got closer, he could make out... Wave's laugh, as well. Now why would _she_ be laughing if _she_ just tripped and fell in front of Storm? Was it Storm that fell? No that couldn't be it, Jet definitely would have heard that before the laughter.

So then, Jet thought to himself, why _were_ they laughing? Several nervous and slow steps brought the leader of the Rouges to the door of the workshop. Jet, in full heist reconnaissance mode, stealthily peaked through the corner of the window on the top center of the door. And what he saw... was something... _unprecedented_...

"... well this is... _different_..." he breathed in bewilderment.

Storm and Wave were sitting across from each other laughing about... nothing. There was no sign of a struggle, no blood on any surface, no broken instruments, no dents in the walls or floor. Nothing to suggest anything had been going on but a simple Extreme Gear lesson. Wave had absentmindedly placed a hand on Storm's wide arm, steadying herself as her laughing fit got worse.

And Storm... let it happen... He. Let. Wave. Touch him. As if... he was _comfortable_ with her... And that was just... Jet found himself at a loss for words right then.

But he knew this was some crazy shizz, _that_ was for sure!

"Just what... is happening with those two..?" he questioned under his breath, an intense glint in his eyes. This was too weird. Jet was never one to poke his beak into other people's business ( _unless, you know, he was trying to steal their valuables_ ) but this was just too abnormal to NOT investigate further. Right then Jet decided to never rest until he figured out what was happening between his older siblings.

Storm and Wave's laughter died down and after a moment, Wave noticed her hand on Storm's arm and immediately flung it away.

No sir, he would not rest!

Storm tilted his head at her, clearly confused at her actions.

Not going to let them escape his watchful eye until he discovered the truth!

Wave swiftly took hold of her monkey wrench and proceeded to whack Storm over the head with it.

 _... there was nothing interesting happening here at all._

"Ehh, whatevs. As long as they're not arguing" he thought disinterested. Jet walked back to the other part of the ship, making a mental note to tell them to not work so hard so they can have time for him from now on.


	8. Pre-Riders Part 8

"And you just want to eaaaaase onto that turbine. You don't want to break it, merely test its limit" Wave instructed, giving a screwdriver to Storm. He gingerly took it from her and moved to one of the tiny fan blades on the underside of their learning gear. It had been 7 weeks now and Storm had gotten noticeably more confident in his lessons. The large grey feathered boy was comfortable with his situation now and he'd nestled into the routine. So when he attempted to copy Wave's movements, her response surprised him.

"Wait-wait-wait stop. That's too much force. Eaaaaaase. Lightly." she said patiently. But her words threw him off-balance; he WAS easing lightly, as lightly as someone of his size and strength could be. Storm tried again, the tool shaking in his massive hands as he pressed the screwdriver on the miniature blade and immediately the blade snapped in pieces.

"For the love of- I said ease onto it!" shrieked the magenta swallow as she slammed her hands on the table. The bulky brute flinched at her reaction and raised his hands to defend his face from projectiles he was sure were coming any second.

All the confidence he gained crumbled inside him and he was back to his confused and insecure demeanor. Storm felt so disappointed in himself, he thought he was really getting smarter; he was really trying to be a better rider but, as usual, he was just screwing everything up. Jet was counting on him and now Wave was counting on him and he was just blowing it. And now, she was gonna let him have it. She'd been nice for the past couple weeks, but now that he broke something, the grey giant knew all the pent up nastiness was gonna come gushing out like acid.

"S- Sorry! I jus'- can't really g- getta good-"

Wave's stool scratched against the metal floor as she pushed off of the table and moved her feet to stand. "Ughhhhh, just- let me" she said in exasperation, taking quick steps up to the towering boy who still waited for something to be thrown at him.

The sensation of small, firm hands grabbing onto his snatched his attention. There was nothing special about the touch, in fact Storm could sense her frustration in the pressure of her grip. But as she pulled his hands down in front of her while turning around to face the table, the large Babylonian realized something. She could have been a lot rougher with him. This was Wave, she could have attempted to snap his finger off or slap his arms to get his limbs in whatever position she wanted. But she chose to be more... gentle than that.

Finally, he looked down at her and immediately heat rose to his face. Wave had leaned back against his torso, her lean, delicate body softly resting on him. Storm's voice left him as he tried to fathom what was happening. The shapely, heliotrope girl was reclining on him, his front was attached to her back. And the craziest thing was she did this on purpose! And she seemed comfortable with it!

"Like this, dumb-dumb." The clueless Wave turned her head back at him, her dainty breath ghosting on Storm's arm and he swore his heart was about to hammer the back of her head at any second. "Pretend it's a... I don't know... an egg. Pretend this is an egg. Too much pressure and," she motioned to the shards of thin metal on the table, his hand immediately desiring the return of her contact. "It breaks and that's not something that can be fixed, you would need a replacement turbine"

Unfortunately, the blushing behemoth was much too distracted to even register what she was saying, the waves of heat emanating from his chest causing a nervous sweat to seep through his feathers. The strength in his legs were slowly drained as she returned her attention to the Gear in front of her, the smooth flip of her hair had his stomach queasy and his head getting lighter.

"You understand, flathead?!" the bewitched dullard jolted at her sudden outburst. It was only then that he realized his mouth was agape and his breath was hitched in his throat. He wracked his distracted and slightly pained head to produce a response. He might've been completely confused and somewhat frightened at his body's state, but he was not going to let it keep him from getting his lesson done.

"... uh... o... okay..." was all he could force out. Well, maybe he was going to let it keep him from getting his lesson done. The small mechanic had stolen control over his limbs and moved his thick hand to hover above the discarded screwdriver. Wave's movements unintentionally rubbed the colossus Storm's fluff in the most amazing way, it sent shudders running through him. His eyes fluttered closed for a moment before he forced them open again, only to be hypnotized by the bandanna covering her head. His blue irises were entranced by the pure whiteness of it, like a blanket of new snow atop a magenta flower.

"And so we take our tool in hand"

Reflexively, he breathed in through his nose and her scent ransacked his senses. A sweet, savory smell, like flowers on a sunny spring day enveloped him. It blocked his much more unpleasant smell of sweat and general exercise musk. Gods, what was happening, his head felt as if it would float right off his shoulders it was so airy.

"And so we take our tool in hand!"

What was going on with his body? He'd never felt this weak and sickly before. Why was this happening right now, of all times, when Wave is right up on him? Storm found it harder and harder to breathe, tired huffs got louder as time seemed to standstill. And the grey feathered boy didn't understand if he wanted to escape... or if he wanted the moment to last forever. Which was impossible, how could he want such a moment to live on, he was unbearably distressed and uncomfortable! What was going on with his-

"STORM, PICK THE DANG THING UP FOR ME!" Wave shouted, whipping her head up at him and unknowingly providing him with the strength to find his baritone voice.

"OH! RI-RI-RIGHT! SOR-SORR-SORRY!" he stuttered as he clutched the handle in a shaky grip.

"Jeez Louise, you're more jittery than that time you drank 5 gallons of soda in one sitting. What's with you?"

"I- I- I don't-!"

"Whatever, Sweaty." Crap, could she smell him too?! "Just pay attention to the amount of pressure I'm applying"

"... k... kay..." he felt pathetic, Storm wasn't sure why all of this was happening, but he just hoped he wouldn't have to barf while Wave had control of him. The thin mechanic wasn't done blowing him away though.

In the most incredible display of delicacy, Wave steadied the panicking display of a grip Storm had on the screwdriver and slowly inched it forward onto the lift fan. He was sure he would hear the snap again; sure that the cathartic feeling of applying his strength on something small and fragile and making it shatter would be felt. But what he felt was...

Nothing. Barely anything. In fact, he thought she had yet to make contact with anything. But she moved his gargantuan hand slightly downward to another blade, so she must have pressed on the first one. She was being THAT light; making him be that light. He had never been that careful, with anything!

"There... see..? We're treating it... just like an egg..." she whispered soft enough to seem like a sigh, the heat of her exhale covering his fingertips. Like he'd held them above a warm cup of tea. Before he knew it, she moved to another blade. "Lightly pressing on... each tiny blade... to see if something's... lodged in there..." It was only due to her heavenly breath that he was able to focus on his fingers and notice the soft pressure she was applying to the precious Gear part.

"... uh-huh..." he sighed absentmindedly, knowing full well that he wouldn't be capable of such softness. Heck, he wouldn't even be experiencing this ethereal tenderness if she hadn't literally seized control. A swelling swarmed in his belly at the thought; he was grateful to be treated to this graceful movement that he would have never experienced on his own. But again, his body was out of whack, so the feeling was drowned amongst the sea of bewildering and complex emotions that were still unidentifiable to the simple avian.

"And we see that there isn't any blockage!" Wave bubbled, suddenly releasing her hold on Storm's hands and lifting off of his chest. The instant she recoiled, a cold, sinking feeling rushed through the large albatross. "There! All done! Wasn't so difficult, was it?" she turned and met his gaze, causing his stomach to somersault inside him.

Wave's expression wasn't anything special, she was passive-aggressive and made sure he knew it with her body language; her head tilted to the side and her hands on her hips. But for whatever reason, when she turned to him, Storm's condition worsened. He didn't realize it could happen, but the heat he'd been emanating exploded into a roaring flame under his skin, and that did not help with his lightheadedness. He was spiraling out of control, Storm didn't know how much longer he could stay conscious.

"Oh boy, you look really flush. What's the matter with you?" Wave commented, attempting to reach her hand to his forehead. Instinct kicked in and Storm recoiled from the attempted contact, like her hand was coated in poison.

"I don't... I dunno... I... might be... comin' down wit somethin'..." he huffed between panicked breaths. A look flashed across her face, a confused and almost hurting expression, in reaction to his retreat. But before he could even clearly identify it, she changed to a much simpler emotion.

"Oh great, and I just touched you and let you breathe in my personal space! Now I'M gonna get sick! Way to go, Storm!" the small heliotrope girl began wiping her gloves on her pants leg. Quickly returning to her side of the table, her delicate hands ran up and down her thighs and hips, mesmerizing the blushing giant once again. With a quick shake of his head though, he was thinking clearly. He wasn't going to make it if he stayed here.

"Sorry... I'm so... sorry... but I gotta go..." he said, keeping his gaze on the floor to make sure he stayed in control. The silence that wafted between the two Babylonians was thick, but blessedly short.

"Go..? Really? You're suddenly THAT sick?"

"Wave... I don't think... I don't think dis is a lil' thing... It might be huge..."

"... wow... and you were fine just a second ago... I mean you do get headaches really easy when you think hard... is it like that?" she tried to rationalize. He could feel her struggling to understand, which made two of them because he still wasn't sure why this was happening.

"I jus' feel... feel really weird... I need ta go lie down..." he waddled to the exit as best he could, teetering from one foot to the other in a precarious dance to the door.

"... well I mean... yeah... if you're really not feeling well..." she quietly said, concern barely hidden under the words.

"I'm really not... Sorry Wave... less pick dis up later..." At long last, his hand latched onto the door handle.

"F-Fine, just go get some rest! You're freaking me out with all this!" Wave called out callously. Yet she still couldn't hide the worry in her voice. With a quick, ungraceful tug, the door flung open and Storm scurried into the hallway. He tripped in his hurry to escape and wound up slamming face down on the floor before getting back up and using the wall as support.

He wasn't sure how or specifically why he was feeling so terrible, but he finally figured out something about his illness. Somehow, someway, Wave was the cause. Something about her had his body acting up fiercely. Something about her touch, something about her scent, something about her hair and the way she moved. The simple behemoth couldn't explain it, but it was for certain, she was making him feel sick. And the only hope he had of getting better was getting away.

It was too bad, he'd really warmed up to learning from her and as far as he could tell, she was at least less angry all the time. That was progress, right? Then she flooded his thoughts, her eyes, her smile, her hands rubbing her thighs... oh no, he couldn't even think about her without feeling terrible. Ancestors above, what was going on with him?!

Wave, alone and perplexed, stared down the door that slowly closed on its own. The thought of Storm persisting in her mind.

"Hope you feel better..."


	9. Pre-Riders Part 9

"Hey Storm? You awake?" a nervous Wave asked, as she rapped her knuckles on Storm's bedroom door. She was greeted with silence for her trouble, which only made her feeling of awkwardness increase. After a moment of stewing in the uncomfortable quiet, she raised her gloved hand again to knock a little louder, before a deep, sleepy moan emanated from beyond the hatch-like door.

"... 'Am now" mumbled Storm; a weak, exhausted response.

Wave couldn't shake the uncomfortable pit that formed in her stomach at the sound of his voice. "Still feeling sick?"

"Yeah, real sick" he groaned

"Any better than yesterday?"

"Nah, worse- Look jus'... jus' go on wit ya day. I ain't much good fo' nothin' right now" the tired Storm said, clearly wanting her to leave. She knew it, it was her default tone toward Storm. Well, that is, before the Extreme Gear lessons. She should have been upset at him, this was going to be the second day he missed his lessons, which meant he was playing hookie from work.

But, "... oh... okay... then... I'll let you go back to sleep" was all she could say. It was frustrating, Wave certainly WANTED to be angry at him. The idiot must have eaten something he shouldn't have or slept without covers or something else stupid to get himself sick. What a doofus-

"G'night" he responded, causing the pit inside of Wave to fall deeper. Gods, what was this feeling? Hearing him uncharacteristically miserable made her feel weird. Normally, she would get some sick satisfaction out of his misfortune, served him right for being so dang annoying all the time. But she didn't feel good about this situation, not at all.

The heliotrope avian strutted through the metal hallways of the airship, shifting through her confusing emotions as she approached their living room. Since Storm was out of commission again, Jet had made it clear to them both that he wanted them to spend time with him again. So it looked like she was going to spend the day with her younger companion, who was currently shoving cereal down his mouth like a barbarian.

 _Good, I could use a break_ , she thought with a smile as she walked up to the couch Jet was littering with splashes of milk.

"Still sick?" he asked, looking at her from the corner of his eye.

"Mmh, real sick" Wave said, before shifting a couch pillow away from Jet so she could drop next to him on the leather sofa.

"How the heck did he manage that?" the young hawk sloshed as he chewed on his cereal.

"No idea, Jet... I mean seriously, he was fine one minute the next he was sweating bullets and struggling to stand" Wave sighed, slumping slowly on the upholstery.

"Hmm... that's weird... but I'm sure he'll recover soon"

"I don't know he looked... really frazzled yesterday..."

"Psh! Whatevs, he just gave you two days off! I'd be psyched if I were you"

And just like that, Wave was thrown for a loop. Why wasn't she psyched about this? She hadn't gotten a break from Storm since Jet forced her to teach him about Gear. That was 7 weeks ago; why didn't it feel that long to her? When exactly did she stop wishing for something like this to happen?

"Oh man, where'd she get that hairdo? The toilet bowl? Eheheheheh!" Jet cackled, snapping Wave out of her thoughts for a moment. Her blue eyes darted up to the widescreen television where a young dog woman with a hairstyle similar to a swirly was parading around a lavish house with several other roommates.

"Hahahaha! Good one, Jet! Ugh, and that shade of lipstick makes her look like she's been french kissing an ice sculpture"

"Eheheheh, ya got that right! I can't wait for another cat fight between her and her brother's girlfriend! Can you say rumble in the jungle?! Heheheheheh!"

"Hahahaha... yeah..." her voice tapered off, as her thoughts took over once more. It wasn't that she wasn't ecstatic to spend time with Jet again, she loved their lazy days of watching trashy tv on the couch. It was just the thought of Storm suffering was overriding whatever enjoyment she could have derived from Jet.

"Oh boo! Commercial break!" the green hawk shouted as he turned the volume down.

"... you know, I am psyched to get a break from Storm" said Wave, as she fiddled with her hands resting in her lap.

"I know you are! You've been dealing with that idiot for weeks on end, I'm surprised you haven't gone insane yet!"

"Believe me, it was the hardest thing in the world to not check myself into the looney bin. I mean, come on, how much dumbness could be condensed in his body?!" the purple feathered girl commented as she motioned a silhouette of Storm and proceeded to compact him into a ball.

"Eheheheheh! Give him a break, he's been struggling just as much as you, probably more so! He's gotta work extra hard to understand the basis of what you tell him!"

"I know! I've had to repeat myself so much these past days, I bet I could have recorded myself, added a drum beat, and pawned it off as a song! Hahahahaha!" Wave threw her head back and bellowed out a laugh.

Jet nearly snorted out his milk at the joke, but instead his bowl dropped out of his hands as he held his aching abdomen. "Oh gods! Eheheheheheh! Sucks for you, eheheheh!"

"Gee thanks a lot, chief! You're the one that put me through all that!"

"Don't pretend like you weren't asking for it, missy" he chided with a snarky look pointed at Wave.

"I-! You-!" Wave had to stop herself from really unleashing her pent up fury she had with her leader. His smug expression was making the difficult task even harder to accomplish, but she inhaled deeply and exhaled calmly "I might have been forcing your hand in the matter-"

" _Might have?_ " Jet pushed. Wave gritted her teeth and inhaled again.

"... I forced your hand in the matter... but still, this was cruel and unusual punishment, Jet!"

"Pfft! Try listening to you two have a shouting contest every 5 minutes for 11 years straight. Then you'll really know what cruel and unusual punishment is..." Jet said as he looked at the meaningless commercials on screen. The tone in his voice didn't hide the somber look in his eyes, Wave noticed it immediately. And she didn't know how, but she understood some of what he felt, the somber disappointment that was hidden from her and Storm before.

She couldn't understand why now, of all times, she could see this part of Jet. Why not years before? The answer wasn't clear to the haughty bird, but she had a sinking suspicion it was because of the way she forced herself to be a better teacher to Storm.

"... fair enough..." she finally replied.

"Yeah I know it is"

"... But I'll admit... it hasn't been ALL bad..."

Jet turned to Wave in shock, "Really?"

A flood of memories ran through her mind, the leaps and bounds Storm had taken to be where he was, his cheering, his smiles, his compliments for her. Every good thing flashed before her mind's eye in a slideshow of bliss. A smile creeped across her face and a warm glow shined in her chest. "... really-"

"Oh! The show's back on!" Jet turned the volume up on the television as the disgustingly glittery and hip intro played. The tasteless tune brought her back to reality, the pleasant memories flowed to the back of her mind, her smile folding back into a thoughtful, perturbing frown.

 _What is happening to me?_

"Where dat hoe at!? Ya'll betta tell her ta get her -BEEP-ing -BEEP- out here right the -BEEP- now!" the young dog woman threatened and cursed on the television, as the camera crew struggled to follow her.

"Ehehehehehe! It's happening! The rematch of the century: Butt-ugly, Long Face Sister VS Makeup Challenged, Airbag Lips, The Two-Timing Girlfriend!" Jet cheered, not noticing how Wave had yet to react to the battle about to take place.

"Let's get ready to RUMBLLLLLLLLLLE! Eheheheheheh!"

The grass green avian noticed the absence of Wave's voice and finally looked at her. His magenta mechanic was still sitting next to him, but in a sense, she was nowhere near him. Like a statue atop a gravestone, she was motionless, uncomfortable, eyes looking at something beyond the walls that contained her. Her expression was somber, unlike the countless other times she and Jet watched trashy tv, and for whatever reason, the leader couldn't tell what was on his subordinate's mind.

The noise of the television filtered back in and stole Jet's attention for a fraction of a second, before he paused the program. Even the sudden change in volume didn't snap her attention back to the present. "Uh Wave, you paying attention?"

The purple swallow turned to her worried companion, "Huh? Oh. Yeah... the showdown..." she mumbled as an insincere smile tried to cover her face, but ultimately it fell away when she noticed the way Jet was looking at her.

"What's up?" he asked, stern yet clearly worried.

"It's nothing, forget it" she waved him off, turning her face away to keep him from deducing the depths of her emotional state.

"It doesn't look like nothing. Seriously, what's the problem?"

"I'm glad I get a break from teaching Storm, don't get me wrong. I freaking hate having to teach him stuff when I could be experimenting with Gear on my own"

"And?"

"And I'm super pumped for the showdown and watching tv with you"

"Who wouldn't be?" the cocky bird scoffed, earning a small smile from Wave. But as quickly as it came, it went as she continued to explain.

"But I... I can't seem to get Storm out of my head..."

"I told you, he's gonna be fine, he just needs to sleep it off"

"I know, and you're probably right, this is most likely nothing. Bu-"

"So that's it, then. Problem solved, right?" he finished for her, impatient with the retread of events he had already gotten over.

"Yeah. Yeah, problem solved. I don't know what was with me, but I'm over it!" Wave assured, leaning back and staring at the television so Jet would feel at ease.

"Good! Glad I could help! Now come on, let's watch the death match already!" Jet reminded as he reached for the remote.

"Hahaha, press play, the anticipation is killing me!" And within moments, the show continued.

"DERE SHE GO! AYE YO, -BEEP-! I'M BOUT TA TEAR YO WEAVE OUT, YA TWO TIMING HOE!" one woman screamed as she saw another taller woman coming into the home.

"WHO DA -BEEP- YOU THINK YOU TALKIN' TO, -BEEP-?! I'LL WRECK YO MOTHER-BEEP-ING WORLD, SO STEP THE -BEEP- UP AND TRY ME, MOTHER-BEEP-ING -BEEP-!" both women invaded each other's personal space, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

"Bwahahahahah! This is comedy gold! Ehehehehehe!"

"Ahahahahaha!"

Without warning, the shorter woman grabbed the taller woman's hair and proceeded to yank and pull with all her might as the taller woman swung her arms at her assaulter. Senseless, mindless flailing ensued from that point on.

"Ooh, she's got her by the weave! Shoulda bought the cheap kind that comes out easy, beach! Bwahahahaha, now you're about to get it! Eheheheheheh!" Jet chortled, amused to no end.

"Hahahaha, yeah! She... she should have... bought the discount weave..." Wave trailed off, her earlier thoughts coming back with a vengeance.

"Bob and duck, skank, bob and duck! She's twice your size, you need to- up! See, ya should've bobbed and ducked. Ehehehehehe!"

"Hahaha... should have dodged... that punch..." She was so beside herself, she couldn't even enjoy the fight of the century. The thought of Storm laying in his bed suffering, alone, made the idea of wasting her time watching a poorly made show unsatisfying.

"NOW SET SECURITY COMES IN! WHERE WERE YOU WHEN SHE WAS THROWING TABLES ACROSS THE DOWNSTAIRS, YA MOOKS!?" Jet threw his empty cereal bowl at the television screen, but luckily he missed.

Wave stared through the wall, images of Storm on her mind. Just what could be ailing him? How could this have happened so suddenly? Was she taking this too seriously?

"Ah! My weave! Let go of my mother-BEEP-ing weave, you stupid -BEEP-!"

"Ehehehehehehe!"

Or was Jet not taking this seriously enough? Ancestors know he isn't nearly as responsible or careful as the leader of the Babylon Rogues should be. What if this was another aspect of that irresponsibility? Or maybe Jet knew what Storm was suffering from and knew that he would be okay because it had happened before?

"Oh my gawd, it was a madhouse in dere! Like -BEEP- ya'll hoes can't contain dat -BEEP- to one part of da house?! I mean, I'm just tryin to get some mother-BEEP-ing chips and I gotta -BEEP-ing bob and duck away from ya'll crazy -BEEP-es like I'm a boxer or some -BEEP-!" an entirely different woman commented as footage of her in an interview played between shots of the violence.

"Oh my gods, bwahahahahaha!" Jet fell off the couch clutching his stomach as laughter racked his body.

No. She had known Storm and Jet their whole lives. If Storm was ever this sick before, she would have remembered. But... perhaps she was just being way too concerned.

Yes that was it, she knew she was being stupid, crazy even. But... she couldn't shake this feeling. This feeling in her gut that formed whenever she thought about Storm lately. The dark aching pit forming in her stomach, the crackling worry that made her throat feel like dry liquid.

Storm was most likely fine.

Jet was right probably right.

This was most definitely nothing.

... _But what if it WAS something?_

Wave was already moving toward the door when the words tumbled out of her mouth, "I'll be right back"

"Eheheheheh-! Huh?" Jet popped upright on the floor as he watched Wave speed walk to the door.

"I gotta- get something real quick- I'll be back in a minute!" she wasted no time flinging the door open and breaking into a sprint down the hallway.

"Oh, okay" Jet responded meekly to the empty room.

Wave ran down the hall to her room, where her board was leaning against the wall adjacent to her headboard. With a quick swipe, she had her board in hand and proceeded to ride it out in the hallway. Within seconds, she arrived at another room.

After a quick code, the doors unlocked and revealed a wide expanse. The room had glass walls adjacent to the doorway, revealing a wondrous sea of billowing clouds. Down the stairs connected to the doorway, there was a complex arrangement of dials, meters, and switches accompanied by touch screens that displayed sonar of the Babylonian Cloud's surroundings.

This was the navigation room, where the Babylon Rogues had maps of the entire world and the means to go most anywhere. Among the touch screens of data, a digital map of their current position over specific landmasses was always present.

Scanning it quickly, Wave found her desired destination and memorized a route. Without hesitation, she approached one of the glass walls and opened the large window, wind gusting against her body. The skinny swallow steadied herself, grabbing the edge of the pane to keep her body from being shoved backward.

The heliotrope feathered girl paused for a moment, the high altitude winds beating her down, flapping her hair around like a flag in a hurricane, Wave asked herself once more: did she really need to do this?

 _"G'night"_ his final words to her filtered to the front of her mind, the weak, raspy and exhausted voice was so alien coming from the massive avian. That was her answer.

Red sneakers pushed the delicate girl from the safety of the airship and sent her hurtling through the sea of white, as she descended to the land below.

* * *

I may or may not have watched too much of Bad Girls Club and other Oxygen/WE TV trash shows in order to get the event of Jet and Wave's television show just right. ^_^U

Hey I wonder where Wave is running off to so quickly? Let's find out next time~


	10. Pre-Riders Part 10

_**Whoo, it's been a little while huh? Welp, schools out for the summer so hopefully I can start cranking out a chapter a month like (semi)usual. Anyways, thanks for your patience and enjoy the kinda long chapter. ;D**_

* * *

Nimble fingers tap-danced across a glowing holographic keyboard in the darkness of the night. Wave sat against an alley wall, working her way into the pharmacy's security. She was currently resting her back against a disgusting dumpster belonging to the establishment. She was only a few keystrokes away from controlling every camera in the drug store, which amounted to 8 measly cameras.

 _"What a bunch of backwater, thumbsuckers. This is too easy"_ , Wave thought as the final keystroke gave her complete access to the lacking security of the run-down town's pharmacy. Wave clicked the red jewel on her necklace and the holograms blipped out of existence. She stood to her feet and sauntered out of the alley and crossed the front of the establishment. She stopped just shy of the bright, buzzing lights illuminating the front door, begging someone to bask in its unreliable glow.

The loitering girl leaned comfortably on the dingy cement tiled wall, searching the darkness for movement of any kind, her finger tapping energetically on her folded arm. " _C'mon, c'mon, somebody get in here, I haven't got all night!"_ she growled mentally. But there was no answer to her silent command, just the ambient noises of an urban town late at night.

Impatiently, the swallow slumped further down on the wall, her stomach a swirling mess of emotions. She wasn't sure what feeling was coming over her in this moment: eagerness to do what she purposed in herself to do when she rode all the way down to the mainland, impatience at the lack of foot traffic at this hour, or shameful for going to such lengths for Storm of all people. There she was, leaning against a dirty wall, after just hacking into a ghetto corner pharmacy, waiting to take advantage of the next poor schmuck who was coming for a late night visit.

 _"Seriously, what's gotten into me?"_ she thought to herself, and as soon as the question was raised, the mental image of the goofy grey blockhead showing that genuine smile he always did came to answer her. And without warning, the memory of his voice jumped into the spotlight.

" _I know dis ain't da easiest thing in da world fo' ya, but ya tryin' ta help me anyways... an' dat's... dat's pretty cool o' ya..._ "

 _"Ancestors above, curse him for being so darn nice!"_ Wave huffed, closing her eyes and facing the night sky. Wave struggled to regain a calm focused mind after thinking of his rumbling voice, but after a few minutes she quieted down her swirling emotions. And as if on cue, a middle aged skunk, dressed in a suit and tie, speed-walked through the entrance, jingling the bell attached to it. " _Finally"_.

Wave seemingly became the man's shadow, silent and ever present behind him, invisible to everyone in the pharmacy. He was on the phone, talking about graffiti plaguing our society and some other ignorant, entitled prick rhetoric. But Wave just rolled her eyes and tuned him out as they went to an aisle of common pain pills and cough syrups. Swift thief hands swiped a few bottles of extra strength Tylenol before the skunk rounded a corner and headed down another aisle, a hair care and perfume/cologne section. He stopped and carefully searched through the dozens of cheap cologne options.

 _"Okay, that's enough of this guy_ ," she said to herself as she stealthily slipped out of the aisle and briskly made her way to another part of the pharmacy. A cheesy song from 40 or 50 years ago whispered behind the buzzing florescent lights as Wave scanned the beaten up signs describing the aisles. Finally she found the right shelves and scooped up the assortment of items she had listed in her head.

With the lightest of ease, Wave stuffed the goods in her backpack and sidled toward the exit. Not a soul noticed the lean swallow in white, not even the skunk man, whom she knew was going to have an eventful night looking for his wallet. Too bad he was never getting it back, for when the security bell rang as she left the dingy pharmacy, her delicate hands tossed the skunk's wallet in the air, playfully bouncing all as she approached her hidden Extreme Gear board.

 _"Thanks, Sean Paul, your contribution to the Wave charity foundation is much appreciated_ ," Wave laughed to herself as she silently blasted off into the sky, a thin streak of pink the only indication of her presence in the sporadically lit city.

She soared through the air as covertly as the shadow of a crow, disturbing nothing despite the velocity she traveled at. Her hair billowed behind her boldly as she made her way across town, passing rooftops and cars, all of which were little more than a collection of blurs to her. Any other time, she would be focusing on the way her Extreme Gear handled like a dream thanks to her expert mechanic work or practicing a special trick she's been meaning to really nail down 100% or she would even focus on scouting out potential targets for a future heist.

But Wave was only focused on one thing: doing everything in her power to make that behemoth bird feel better. Every second she was on the mainland, she wanted to kick herself for doing something so illogical. Why should she care? Why should she go to such lengths for him? Why should she risk being caught and detained because of Storm of all people? Wave snickered to herself as she past an intricately built apartment complex.

" _Come on, I'm not at risk of being caught. Not by a long shot. But still, why am I doing this? I should just go back home, right now_ " she thought as she slowed to a stop, hovering high above the rooftops. She looked over her shoulder in the direction where she knew the Babylonian Cloud was, trying to find the strength to go to it. It would have been easy, just turn the board around and angle it up and she'd be back home sitting on the couch with Jet, watching some trashy tv show. Easy as pie.

But she remained motionless. Wave nearly asked the ancestors above to curse her for her sheer insanity. This made no sense, she was not the type of person to do this sort of thing. She wouldn't dare to even be mistaken of doing something this selfless, it was nauseating to her. There was nothing in this for her, so why, why couldn't she just call it a night and go back home?

 _"AW YEAH! WOOOOOOOOOOO-!"_

 _"NO CHANTING!" Wave bashed him over the head with a monkey wrench. Storm's eyes shut on impact, but his smile never faltered._

 _"- OOOOOoooooo! I dids it! Hahahaha!" the robust buffoon laughed after ending his cheer quickly._

 _"You mean, I did it!" Wave corrected, a coy expression on her face. Her lumbering grey companion, still laughing looked down at her and smiled gently._

 _"How 'bout... 'we' dids it?" offered the deep voiced bird, his tone pleasant and warm smile caught her off guard, silencing her for a few short seconds. The purple feathered girl mentally shook herself and got her train of thought back on its tracks, before responding to him._

 _"... fine. WE did it..." compromised the normally defiant Wave. And her reward was an impossibly airy chuckle from the large boy. The soft, smooth laugh that came from him had her feeling derailed again._

Before she knew it, Wave was already perched on the edge of a roof, looking out at delivery trucks as they loudly made their way back on the road. There it was again, she dipped out of reality a bit and thoughts of him came crashing her system, seizing control of her. Wave stood and backed away from the edge a pace, wary of her new surroundings.

"This is getting seriously freaky" she breathed, gently raising her hand to her bandanna. The mechanic took a moment to gather her bearings and regain her grasp on the warm jiggling in her stomach when she thought of him. As the flowering heat died down inside of her, Wave came to the only conclusion she could. She was the smartest person she knew and she had a lot of time to try and fight against this, but she knew there was no point in fighting the feelings that drove her this far away from home.

Whatever she was feeling, it was strong and alluring, almost as if she didn't have a choice but to bend to its will. And fighting against that will seemed an impossible battle for sure, but allowing it to have its way seemed... right. So Wave decided she would stop questioning it for one night and obey it wholly, these indiscernible feelings. Ultimately, they wanted the same thing she did: Storm to recover as soon as possible. So with focus and control returned, Wave surrendered to the swirling torrent of sensations in her mind and moved forward.

With flips only simple for a gymnast, she fell gracefully to her waiting Type W board and silently flew inside of the now empty storage warehouse. The high ceiling, expansive room held a wide array of groceries from the adjoining supermarket on the far south wall. There were a couple of workers cataloging the inventory, checking if the items were compromised, things of that nature; Wave was careful to avoid their attention.

She hid behind a rather assortment of boxes, housing a startling amount of gaudy lawn furniture. She was invisible, like a piece of paper in a snowstorm, as she waited for the right moment. Wave wasn't positive how long she stood there, only a sliver of her face unprotected from her hiding spot, the Extreme Gear clutched in her hand while the other held the henge of her stylish sunglasses.

Patience enveloped her until finally, she was rewarded for her efforts; a red fox employee walked past the furniture boxes, yawning fiercely. He was tired, unfocused, bored. Perfect. According to the clipboard in his hand and the pencil in his shirt pocket, he was supposed to be doing inventory on Section D of the warehouse. Wave raised her phone just enough to have a clear shot of the paper on the clipboard, which was angled awkwardly thanks to the sudden need the fox worker had to stretch disgracefully.

The sly swallow quickly seized the opportunity to set her phone's camera to rapid shot mode and angled herself to get a clear shot of the pages on the board. As soon as the first picture was taken, her fingers darted out and flipped to the next page before the next picture was captured. She flitted through the pages fast enough to keep up with her camera's rapid shot mode and within a 3 seconds she had the entire supermarket's inventory at the touch of her screen.

The feat impressed her so much she let out a soft sneer, catching the fox's attention. He ended his stretch and darted his eyes in her direction, she barely recoiled behind the boxes in time. After a second of silence, she heard a foot step come closer to her position. He might not have seen what was there, but Wave knew he was being curious.

Darn it all! she berated herself, as her cheeks burned bright pink. What would Jet say if she was spotted here by a little nobody like this, stealing some crap from a grocery store? She shuddered at the ridicule she would have to endure for this ridiculously amateur situation she'd gotten herself into. What would Storm say?

The fox swiftly popped his head and a flashlight in Wave's hiding spot, inhaling to prepare a loud shout to alert his coworkers of an intruder. But he let the breath out in a disappointed huff. There was nothing but shadows and dust to meet him, nothing abnormal in the often ignored sections of the storage space. The young man slumped his shoulders and groaned in exasperation, as he turned on his heel to return to his work.

"Nothing ever interesting happens around here" he muttered under his breath. And if the ignorant boy had only looked up slightly, he would have noticed a bandanna clad Babylonian, master thief, and one of the most brilliant mecha mechanics in the world, clinging awkwardly to a bright magenta and lavender hover board. But he kept on his way, blissfully unaware that his life was graced with maybe the most interesting thing that would happen in his uneventful city.

Wave sighed in relief and clambered all the way on top of her Type-W, swiftly pulling up the photos of the inventory list. Dainty fingers swiped across the screen to zoom in and move around the picture as she studied the information.

" _Not there... not over here either... no, no, no-ah, there!_ " she silently mouthed, before hovering above the I-beams that held the ceiling in place. The heliotrope Babylonian road her board between the support beams, weaving through them like a fish through a coral reef, making not one sound through it all. She stopped above a specific section and observed the workers in the area. There were only a few, each of them off in their own little worlds as their bodies were on autopilot.

Wave reached into her pockets and pulled out several bolts, screws, and wingnuts (she never knew when she'd need to replace some parts on the Rogues gear), and picked a wingnut out of the mix. She also reached in her backpack and pulled out a larger than usual wrench. With little effort, she tossed the piece in the air and swung her wrench like a baseball bat, sending the piece ricocheting all over the place.

But something happened in the chaos, the wingnut hit one of the workers on the shoulder at a strange angle, when the woman turned in the direction it must have logically came from, she saw no one. But she looked down in her hand and saw the wingnut that hit her, so she reasoned it had to have come from someone. After a moment, she hesitantly walked away from the area, to find a coworker.

Again, Wave tossed another tool accessory in front of her and struck it across the warehouse and again it bounded off of random surfaces until eventually, another employee was hit with a random tool piece. This employee, after looking in the distance for a moment, returned to her work. Within seconds, another screw hit her ear, inciting her to panic. She hopped off of the ladder she was perched on and ran away. Her screams of terror alerted a few other coworkers, who reflexively chased after her.

Wave continued to hit small pieces against the walls and boxes of the area, the innocent grocery store employees were all hit or scared of being hit, so eventually, they all left. And just like that, there was no one in the area. Wave was free to proceed. She floated down and quickly scanned the labels on all the boxes and shelves. Finally, she found what she was looking for and swiftly she gathered a few things into her backpack with the rest of her loot.

Just as she zipped her backpack shut, she heard a collection of voices and footsteps coming her way. The employees must have gotten their manager or security to check out the strange occurrence. Wave shot to her board before they had a chance to see her. She headed to the exit, but stopped just short of the threshold. She pulled out an electronic magnet and pointed it at the section she just stole from.

Within moments, all of the tiny tool pieces she used as projectiles returned to her, along with several new pieces of scrap, some rings, and several shelves began dragging toward her as well. With a satisfied grunt, the swallow blasted off into the open air and through the starry sky, just as the hysterical employees brought over their manager and a security guard, neither of them believing the workers's claims of ghosts throwing things at them.

* * *

The wind rushed inside of the navigation room as she strained a bit to close the window she had just flown back into. The window frame clicked, insuring her that the window was closed and she slumped to her knees. A tired sigh left her lungs in an aggressive rush. She made it back, but she still had work to do, possibly the hardest part about the entire plan. Wave groaned as she pulled herself back to her full height and mentally prepared to walk through the halls of her home to do one of the few things she was horrible at.

But before she could take a single step-

"Where have you been?! You missed the whole show!" Jet screeched, a twinge of hurt in his voice. Wave winced at his sudden appearance, she knew their show had long since ended and he had now moved on to another late night guilty pleasure show: So You Assume You Have the Ability to Be a Model? She knew she was going to have to explain where she was this whole time, but she didn't think he would be waiting for her in the Navigation Room. She had hoped he wouldn't even know she left the Babylonian Cloud, but it was clear, tonight was not her night.

"Popcorn!" shouted Wave nervously. Jet stared blankly down at her, not sure what he was expecting to hear.

"Wha?" he squawked. Wave scrambled to form a coherent sentence together.

"I, uh, wanted popcorn. But, uh, we were out. So, umm, I, uh, ran to the, uh, the store to get, ah, some more. Popcorn, that is, uh. I went out for popcorn" Jet just stared at her, disbelieving, as she unsuccessfully tried to hide her guilt behind a smile. It was as awkward as it was transparent. But she quickly slung her backpack on the floor and zipped it open to pull out something.

Sure enough, it was a packet of uncooked popcorn; Jet's favorite brand, to boot.

"Want some?" Wave offered innocently. Her leader simply stood in place, looking her in the eye with a suspicious glare. She knew it. This was a bad idea, keeping anything from Jet was a no-no. Ever since they were little, Jet hated secrets, he felt it was a leader's duty to know everything about his team at all times, his father was the same. Neither of them took to kindly to being excluded out of details, whether they were important details or not.

Wave begged the ancestors to make Jet's punishment as merciful as possible, as he slowly stomped down the stairs and toward Wave. He was half a foot away from her before he stopped, his gaze penetrating and unflinching. She knew it, he knows she's not telling the truth, he knows there's something else going on. She was done for. Jet quickly swiped his hand toward her and she closed her eyes for a fraction of a second.

When she opened them again, she realized she was no longer holding the popcorn packet and Jet had returned to his generally laid-back expression, the popcorn in his hand. He snatched it from her just like that.

"Thanks! I didn't know we were out. Remind Storm to get some more the next time he goes grocery shopping" he said with a relaxed smile. Wave's eyes were wider than dinner plates at his reaction.

"Now hurry up and make this so we can watch the show! Di'Tanni Ray is gonna try to model with her rival, Dah'Nay-Nay! I don't want to miss it!" he instructed gleefully as he jumped back up the stairs and out of the Navigation Room. Leaving Wave paralyzed like a statue.

" _... never mind, ancestors. False alarm, I guess_ " she thought as she walked up the stairs to complete her mission. The electronic sliding doors shot open and Wave calmly walked to the kitchen, her backpack lazily hanging to her side, lightly bumping her swaying hips as she moved. The kitchen door automatically opened when she entered its range.

In one smooth motion, she pulled her backpack around her front and all the contents from her heists spilled in front of her. The items she worked fairly hard to get, all things considered: a few bottles of extra strength Tylenol, a couple bottles of mouthwash, fresh lemons, instant mashed potatoes mix, a couple cans of ginger beer, sage oil, and a jumbo bag of almonds.

"Alright Wave," she said to herself as she flicked the stove on. "as Storm would say, less do dis".

* * *

It was done, all done. Somehow, someway, she got it all done. Wave the Swallow, notorious around the world as the foremost expert in all things Extreme Gear, and notorious around the Babylonian Cloud as the worst cook of the three, had managed to prepare a meal out of her random items. And not just any meal, this was a special, traditional Babylonian general sickness remedy.

A mixed drink of ginger beer and mouthwash, mashed potatoes cooked in sage oil with crushed almonds sprinkled in for good measure, along with lemon slices lightly covered in salt. As disgusting as it tasted, generations of Babylonians swore by the dishes, including all of the Babylon Rogue's parents.

Wave remembered when her mother was alive, she would make the disgusting array of ingredients and force her to ingest them. And when she woke up, whatever was ailing her would buckle under the pressure of the horridness of it all and vacate the premises. It always made her feel better, even though she hated how it tasted, so Wave supposed she swore by it too now.

And as she made her way down the halls of her home, she felt proud of herself. Even though she had nearly burned down the kitchen four times and she had to start over everything even more times, plus she was sporting some new burns and singes on her arms and face (don't ask how the fire managed to get that high up), she did it.

What's more she did it without Jet finding out, turns out she was right to make extra popcorn to keep him occupied long enough for her to fall on her face a couple of times in the kitchen until she finally got the hang of it. She ducked in and out of the living room to make Jet so annoyed he finally went to bed, leaving her free to nearly set the kitchen on fire a third and fourth time. Despite all of it, she came through. Her mother would be proud, she giggled to herself thinking of what she would say if she were still here.

But finally, she came up to his door, the door she hadn't been able to stop thinking of all night. The door that sheltered the object of her suffering and frustration, yet puzzlingly her happiness as well. She froze just for a moment, the memory of his weak, groaning voice and her helplessly standing there rushed back. Snow white glove hovered in place, nearly touching the flat surface mere inches away from her face.

"... What am I hesitating for? I didn't come all this way just to chicken out..." she whispered to herself, frustration growing in her chest, along with the icy chains of nervousness and a slew of other emotions that she still had no idea how to classify. Wave pulled her hand back and pushed it forward, thinking this was just a glitch in her system. But again, her hand stopped just a hair's breadth from the surface.

"... Did I?" she asked herself, staring disappointedly at her hand. She looked down at the tray she carried from the kitchen, her wonderful handiwork, and a blossom of confidence melted the chains away. Her gloved hand finally knocked loudly on the door. She was ready to complete her mission.

"H-hey Storm. It's me" she croaked out. " _Okay, maybe I'm still a little nervous"_. "I, uh, got you something to make you feel better" she offered with a light tone.

"..." But silence was her answer. She shrugged it off, perhaps he was still asleep. She knocked even louder.

"Storm, wake up for just a second, you should take some medicine and eat something you can keep down" she nearly scoffed when she claimed he could keep the atrocious tasting home remedy down. But she remembered that she somehow did, so if she could, Storm definitely could too.

"..." Again, nothing came to reply to her. Now it was just getting annoying. She punched the door, as if it wronged her.

"Alright, I'm coming in, whether you like it or not, sniveling maggot!" she shouted angrily as she pressed on her red necklace and a holographic screen appeared before her. She quickly tapped a few keys with her free hand and the door clicked open. The stubborn girl clutched the door's handle and shoved it open so hard she swore it was embedded into the wall.

"Jeez Storm, I know you're sick but you could hav-" Wave stopped mid-sentence as her heart sank to the floor. She couldn't believe her eyes. Storm's room was dead quiet, messy beyond repair, but quiet. A window was open, wind fluttering pages of comic books and magazines and random clothes that laid in piles across the floor. She had succeeded in her mission, she had done what she set out to do tonight, against her better judgement she did what her emotions demanded of her. But this... this was something she wasn't prepared for.

She quickly placed the tray on a nearby surface; the bed, a dresser, a pile of clothes, she didn't even register where she put it. She nearly tripped shooting over to his adjoining bathroom, the door wide open so she needn't worry about his privacy. Wave clamored at the bathroom wall for a light switch, panic gripping her spine like a vice as she immediately thought the worst.

But finally, when she managed to get the lights on, there was still nothing to quell her anxiety. Wave twirled violently around the room, not knowing what was going on, much less what to do. Her hands shook and wavered in front of her, not knowing what to do with themselves. The only thing Wave knew for certain was something unforeseen and impossible to calculate had happened.

Storm was...

Gone...

* * *

 ** _Oh noes! Where's Storm?! Did someone take him?! What could have happened to him?! And for God's sake, why did he have piles of clothes in his room if he never WEARS clothes?! D:_**

 ** _These answers and more next chapter. See ya then~ ;D_**


	11. Pre-Riders Part 11

_**Finally, the mystery will be solved! Where did Storm go? Let's see, gang! X3**_

* * *

His room never looked more safe, Storm swore he would be free from whatever ailed his body because of Wave by wrapping himself in its solitude. He hadn't left the sanctuary for the entire day, working out and playing video games to take his mind off of things. He'd gotten bored pretty quickly, but he could handle boredom way better than whatever craziness he felt when he saw her. Or touched her. Or even smelled her, as he found out yesterday.

He felt like a total creep, but he couldn't get her scent out of his nose, she was like a walking lavender bouquet topped with whipped cream. And not the kind from the can, the real, hand- whipped cream. And just like that, thoughts of her galloped through his mind; her sly smirk, her sultry walk, her laughing face. Wave had taken center stage in his brain, once again.

The only thing that brought him out of daydreaming about her was the obnoxious death tune of the video game he was playing. The grey giant shook his head vigorously, trying to regain control and get back to his normal self. But that's when he heard gentle tapping on his door.

"Hey Storm? You awake?" her small voice asked. _Wave..._ her name nearly leapt out of his mouth at the sound of her concerned voice. The massive albatross could already feel the sweat seeping through his thick plumage. His small eyes shot to the metal door and Storm groaned. All the feelings were back again, great. He had to get her away from his room, the seclusion wasn't working anymore now that she was just a few feet from him.

"... 'Am now" Storm mumbled as an exhausted response.

"Still feeling sick?"

"Yeah, real sick" he groaned, already feeling his legs turn to jelly.

"Any better than yesterday?"

"Nah, worse- Look jus'... jus' go on wit ya day. I ain't much good fo' nothin' right now" the tired Storm said, hoping Wave wouldn't press on anymore. This was going to be the second day he missed his lessons and he knew that was making her upset, but until he got a handle on this situation, he really didn't see any better options.

"... oh... okay... then... I'll let you go back to sleep" the heliotrope girl said, barely audible from beyond the door.

"G'night" he responded, trying to sound put together. The robust avian put his head in his massive hands and listened to her steps fade away, imagining each stride like he was looking at her from behind. Her hair bending and trailing behind her like a ballerina's ribbon. Oh, how he wished he didn't feel this way around her, he had just gotten the closest to her he's ever been in his life and they've really been getting along because of it.

Storm finally considered Wave his friend for the first time, before the recent body meltdown, he was thinking about asking her to play video games with him. It could be a racing game, with planes and jets and junk, so they could pretend it was relevant to the Gear lessons. It would have been great. But no, his body just had to let him down before he could ask. He had asked this question several times before, but he found himself asking again: Why is this happening?

The bulky dullard couldn't understand and knew he couldn't ask Jet, he'd get all freaked out whenever Storm brought up illness or anything sick related. And he couldn't ask Wave for obvious reasons, so there went his chances of ever getting help figuring this out. Storm thought about it for a half an hour before giving up on making an idea.

He flopped onto his disheveled bed and sighed loudly. He'd been stuck in his room for nearly 48 hours, it was getting way too boring for him to handle. Storm felt slightly suffocated in his domicile; the stench of young adult male, the messy clutter around his floor, the dim lights, it was all so stale and stuffy.

"I gotta get outta here, I'm goin' crazy jus' sittin' here..." he mumbled to himself as he turned off his flatscreen tv and flung himself off of his bed. Briskly, the heavy Babylonian meandered around his room gathering up his shoes and gloves from their haphazard placement amongst the mess. Storm made his way to his Extreme Gear board, which leaned on his window. Thick fingers trailed against the advanced technology, Storm recognizing the various parts and sections he'd learned about thanks to Wave.

 _"Alright so, this system is for balancing the rider's body weight and turning. The very, very important part of all Extreme Gear" Wave's voice came crashing through his mind._

 _"Right, gah, I knew dat!" Storm said, bopping himself on the head with the heel of his palm for emphasis._

 _"You just ought to by now!" the smaller mechanic threw her arms up in a half hearted attempt at showing her frustration. Which only gave Storm a quick case of the giggles._

 _"Hahahaha!" she stared up at him, annoyed... before suddenly finding her cheeks inflating... then her beak folded in on itself, trying her best to keep herself from being infected with a laughing bug. However..._

 _"... pfffft! Hahaha! Stop making me laugh!" she chuckled angrily, lightly punching him in his arm, the weak touch amusing him even more._

 _"Hahahaha!" their laughter rang through the workshop and outside of the walls._

He found himself lost in the memory, such a pleasant moment... Storm figured that's when he decided she was his friend for the first time. But the euphoric softness of the memory reminded him of his present situation. With a determined snort, the gargantuan teenager pushed open his bedroom window, a mighty gust of wind billowing through his room, and he threw himself out of the airship.

For a moment that felt like days, Storm free-fell, wind rushing past his front and lapping at his back. He fell right through a cloud, it's water vapor slightly misting him as he blew through the fluffy grey. Long grey locks of hair whipped and flicked behind him, his large arms outstretched, his heart leaping into his throat, pounding harder than an explosion. His small eyes shot open like dinner plates, taking in the beautiful moonlit ocean slowly coming closer, and the billowing whispers of the rushing wind enveloping his senses.

This was exactly what he needed. His lungs shot out a loud exclamation of adrenaline-filled joy, before he preformed some impressive flips and stomped on his Gear's footprints, firing the jets and turbines on just before he could touch the cresting blue tide beneath him. Storm loved the water, swimming in it, surfing it, splashing it, everything. That was natural of course, he was an albatross after all, but there was something calming and soothing about the ocean. It could quell his turbulent worries and troubles, like a rainstorm in a thirsty desert.

" _I really needed dis..._ " he thought blissfully as he just escaped a medium sized wave, his fingers trailing across the water's surface as he did, etching unconstrained roads of ripples behind him. The towering bird breathed in, inhaling the sweet scent of saltwater and tropical breezes, traveling next to a school of sea bream, pastel colored and shimmering in the moonlight as they hopped out of the sea and dunked back to safety in unison.

Storm felt himself loosen up, only just realizing how tense he'd been feeling. This moment was perfect, the grey giant wanted it to last forever. But lights reflecting off of the water caught his attention and his moment made way for an even better one. Across the water and far in the distance, the robust Storm recognized a city resting along a tropical island, complete with cliff-sides and wide hills and plateaus.

His interest piqued, he pressed his feet harder and accelerated toward the island. It took him only minutes to get there, thanks to his Extreme Gear's speed. He flew right to the base of the cliff and navigated his way along the trail carved across the massive rock's bottom, leading to the top. In the moonlit night, he was like a shadow against a wall, no one was around but Storm was still a world class thief. He wasn't big on being seen unless Jet expressly told him it was okay.

So he peaked over the spiraling trail to the surface of the cliff, a plateau of a hill, and saw no one but tall grass and flowers spread across the wide expanse of nature. And the occasional white windmill turning monotonously. Swiftly, he ascended just above the ground and kept his eyes peeled for any movement, besides the windmill towers. On second thought, he supposed towers wasn't appropriate, considering the windmill structures varied from one story to 6 story buildings. But they were built like columns of soap, with straw and tarp tops. They looked kinda cute, he had to admit.

The massive Babylon Rogue continued to skulk in the shadows, making his way to a circular structure elevated two stories above the ground. It was made of the same soap white stone the windmills were made of, only it was delicately embroidered and upon flying to its rim, paved with tiled stones. This place was where the people were, albeit a mere 10 or 15 individuals. But Storm was in stealth mode for a reason. Stealthily, he moved around the elevated circle, hidden in the tall grass, and made his way to a bridge connected to the white stone circle. He followed the bridge, from beneath so to not draw any attention to himself, and saw the small village that the bridge was for.

There was loud laughter, coastal music, the clinking of forks against plates; the sounds of a peaceful party. As he flew closer, he wondered what they were celebrating, if anything. The warm orange lights of the small community sanctified them from the cool stillness of the rest of the world around them, the large avian could feel the warmth they exuded and he was only 30 feet from the village.

As soon as he poked his head over the stone rim of the village's wall, he could see what he heard from the bridge. Dancing, delicious steaming food, happy faces, a warm sense of belonging. It was breathtaking, how amazing a small collection of people that loved each other could shine together.

After a moment of watching the people, he noticed a few people getting up and leaving farther inland. Curious, Storm followed them, this time from above. From the sky, Storm had a fantastic view of the environment. Where he saw the gathered people was just a small cul-de-sac of sorts; a pocket semi isolated from the greater expanse of the town.

Everywhere he looked there were soap white complexes, stacked on top of each other like stairs made of ice cream cake layers. Windmills and the lush green and rainbow of flowers permeated the town, adding necessary splashes and accents of vibrant color to an otherwise completely white town. Archways and verandas blended into each other elegantly, roofs were adorned with large colorful bunches of flowers like floppy lopsided wigs on a cheery old woman.

Above the paved trails and roads that the townspeople were using to travel, cobalt blue overpasses branched from building to building, accompanied by more archways and smooth stone trails. There were even bells hanging in the tallest arches, some people relaxed under them, hanging their legs over the edge of their perches. Trellises covered stretches of the town with flowers and vines, making the environment so much more personalized than it would without them. Bright reds and blues lined the windows and doors of every building and everything was lit by the sparse orange glow of warm lanterns.

The whole place was utterly stunning, Storm had never seen such a wonderful town in his life. Just as he was wishing he could take a long vacation there, as the townsfolk were crossing a long bridge connecting one island to another, he heard the singing of a few Spanish guitars and the jingling of tambourines. Without hesitation, he sped to the end of the bridge, where a large collection of light and people had gathered. At least triple the group he was following.

The gathering of townspeople was centered around another circular place, secluded from other islands save for a few bridges to and from it. This circular structure was different from the other however because, for one thing it was quite a bit bigger than the previous one, and in the center there was a giant temple of some kind. This temple was rounded at the top, but hexagonal the rest of the way, its base expanded out further than any other part of it and inside it had covered open walkways, with smooth arches.

The ground had designated patches of grass, flowers hidden in the blades, paths lit up by lanterns hiding in tiny pillars, and a few outdoors tables where some people sat. But most everyone was dancing to the glorious music, played by a live band who'd set up their stage along the border of the enclosed space. They were playing their hearts out, the rhythm pouring out of their very beings and permeating the atmosphere.

The grey feathered colossus went by unnoticed as he landed on the rounded top of the temple, holding onto the ring at the center of the dome roof as he leaned down to see the merry people all around him. The music was lively and the dancing was just as boisterous, Storm couldn't help but laugh at a few choice individuals under the thrall of the beat. But it was quite a sight, the ambience radiated with glee and joy, the likes of which Storm had only seen on tv.

It must have been nice to live in such a beautiful place, with beautiful people and beautiful music to dance to. He let out a baritone sigh as he stared at the band and the crowd of people gyrating together; guys with their girlfriends, wives with their husbands, kids with their crushes. It was like nothing worried them, nothing was ailing them, nothing was wrong with any of them.

And the made Storm feel a little down, his problems coming back to him in full force. Why can't I jus' be around her like normal? What's wrong wit me lately? I jus' don't get it... Storm never took his eyes off of the people, but his feelings perturbed him so much he couldn't enjoy himself like he had been.

 _I jus' wish... I jus' wish I knew how ta get thru dis._ Storm managed to sit down and hug his knees to his chest while keeping a firm grip on the temple's ring. After a minute or two of absentminded staring, the melancholy behemoth saw a particularly nervous man. From all the way atop the temple he could see this scrawny guy, twitching, rubbing his head and his hands, shaking and shuddering. The guy looked pathetic as he sat down staring at one of the women dancing among the crowd.

The lady was cute, sure, but not "get-weak-in-the-knees-and-sweat-profusely" cute. And yet, the skinny unimpressive man remained a jittery mess. It went on for a few minutes more, Storm even looked at some other people and returned to the timid man, who was paralyzed apparently, until something happened. Something Storm didn't expect at all. The scrawny, weak, and hesitant ball of fear closed his eyes, took three deep breaths, stood up, and danced over to the girl. All with his eyes closed.

Storm nearly leaped from the temple when he saw the man go forward. Eventually, he opened his eyes and the woman had already taken notice and began dancing with him. And the scrawny guy wasn't shaking anymore (not counting his butt, he was shaking that pretty hard), he wasn't twitching, he wasn't sweating. He didn't even look like the same guy that was glued to his seat just minutes before. Storm's beak dropped to the floor as he watched them both continue dancing and having a good time, like there was never a problem. He couldn't believe it, Storm was at a loss for words.

"How'd he do dat?! How'd dat lil' toothpick get da courage ta go ta dat lady?!" he asked the stars. Storm ran through the scenario in his head a dozen times and found no answers. He went over it another dozen times and finally the gears turned enough for him to figure out what the guy did right. He was nervous, he was sweaty, he was nauseous, he was everything Storm was when he was with Wave. But the guy took a minute to steel himself: closed his eyes and took deep breaths. And then he just... did what he wanted to do. He powered through the feelings.

Storm nearly fell from his perch when he pieced it together. "Ya mean dat shrimp can power through his feelin's n' I can't? I'm Storm, da strongest guy around! If dat lil' geek could do it, I KNOW I CAN!" he bellowed confidently. That was the answer the whole time, power through it. Gods, he felt ridiculous now, he thanked his ancestors that Wave and Jet wasn't there to laugh at his embarrassing moment.

And just when he thought of Wave and Jet, his chest swelled with a fuzzy heat. _Wave_... _now I can talk to her again. We can keep doin' da lessons. Everythin' can go back ta normal._ Storm thought blissfully. He zoned out again staring at the people, letting the music take control of his imagination.

Without warning, he saw Wave down there, standing out among the crowd. She wore a beautiful red dress, red like her necklace, and her hair was extravagantly styled. She twirled and swayed with the music, like it was an extension of her body. She moved gracefully, like orchid petals in the wind, and slowly, Storm came into focus.

He was down there with her, standing above the crowd, staring at her move like an angel. He mimicked what the scrawny guy did earlier, walked right up to her, and moved in perfect harmony with the heliotrope beauty. She smiled at him, a gorgeous, gracious smile, and Storm felt like his heart was about to explode out of his chest. She reached her hand out to him and gently he took it between his massive fingers.

He and Wave danced and it seemed like everyone else just watched them in awe. The two Babylonian teens danced exactly like one of the couples in an old movie he'd seen with his mother. He remembered her picking him up and dancing around the room after the scene was over, his mother never wanted the dance to end as soon as it always did. She always said she'd wanted that moment to last just a little longer.

Storm was never one for old movies, or movies that didn't involve violence and adventure. But those old romance and dancing movies weren't too bad either. Storm's imagination ran for a while, the only words he could muster in his head was "I should bring Wave here". Over and over the imaginary Wave took him by the hand and they danced in front of the crowd, it was a looping sequence.

Eventually, the band had to stop playing, they were fried after an entire night of playing for the town. And the people eventually had to stop dancing, they too had gotten tired from dancing and laughing the night away. So the bulky boy snapped out of his trance and opted to go home. It'd been hours since he left and he was really feeling tired now. So he let go of the only lifeline he had atop the soap stone temple and flipped onto his hoverboard, stomping on the gas so he could make it hope sooner rather than later.

As he rushed back to the Babylon Cloud, Storm realized a peculiar thing. His imagination, despite playing over and over again, only featured him and Wave. Jet was nowhere in sight. In fact, he hadn't even thought to take Jet to the wonderful island town. That struck him as a bit odd, Jet would get a kick out of the place, he knew how to appreciate the beauty of things. Sometimes.

Yet even as he flew across the sea and higher into the sky, Storm just didn't feel the desire to tell Jet about that place. Just Wave. Storm couldn't make heads or tails of that, but it didn't matter. He finally knew how to deal with Wave and things were going to go back to normal. No... things would be better than normal from now on.

The mighty albatross couldn't help but smile to himself as he finally saw the Babylon Cloud again. _Home sweet home_ , he thought happily. Within a matter of minutes, he was just outside of his bedroom window. His closed bedroom window. Storm didn't pay attention however, and forced it open from the outside, then slipped back into his bedroom, back first. The song from the scenic party still played in his head, causing him to reflectively hum the tune.

As he pulled his Extreme Gear in with him and closed his window back, he felt a surge of confidence from that random skinny guy. _If he can do it, I can do it! Get ready, Wave..._ the large teenager thought, grinning to himself as he placed his board against the closed window and started to turn around to plop on his comfy bed.

 _Cuz I promise, things is gonna be-_

Storm completed his turn and froze on the spot. For it wasn't his silent, comfortable room he returned to. No, he had come in on an unexpected sight. There, right in front of the foot of his unmade bed, was the mulberry mechanic herself, staring up at him.

 **And she was pissed...**

* * *

 _ **In case you didn't catch it, Storm visited Apotos this chapter! If you want to know specifically where in Apotos he was, allow me to explain because I watched a ton of playthroughs without boosting to see where I wanted him to go.**_

 _ **Okay, so he first arrives at a cliff with a trail leading to the top right? When you play Windmill Isle Day, the first section where you have to grind on rails to progress, right where the first spikes are in that section, you'll see a tiny cliff island to the left. That's where he goes.**_

 _ **From there, I mixed and matched a couple of other places from the stage and blended them together to make a more cohesive journey for Storm to follow. So after he gets to the top, he's on a wide expanse of tall grass before getting to a circular elevation. That's literally just where the goal ring is for the day stage, just starting from the grassy plain behind the goal ring.**_

 _ **Did I lose ya? I sure hope I didn't, because we're doing some more mixing and matching gang! XDDD Next he goes around that goal ring section and travels under a bridge. I took the final trail leading up to the goal ring, the one with the spikes on land, and made it into a bridge version of that trail. Without the spikes, obviously. XDDD**_

 _ **Next, he goes to a small village-y type place. This is actually based on that small part early on in the stage, the first time in the level where you have to use homing attacks to destroy flying enemies and travel between a gap. At the end of that gap, right before the dash panels, there's this nice round little place with tables and chairs and flowers and there's a couple of people on the roofs of the buildings surrounding it. It's great. C:**_

 _ **And from there, he follows the crowd of people through the town a little. I based that part on basically the whole level, but specifically the section right after the first trick panel and before the double pulley that leads you to the last homing attack to cross section.**_

 _ **Then he hears music and speeds past a bridge to get to a temple with a rounded top. Believe it or not, I saw a random background bridge that connected to the area I wanted to end on, that you can't actually access. To see it, you have to know where the temple is. The temple is that short, almost quicktime event right after you pass the first trick ramp button combination... thingy. XDDD When you press all the right buttons, you go to the top of the temple, run all around it, then take a zip line down, pass a really tiny bridge and hit a checkpoint. So that whole area is where Storm ends his journey. And if you're really paying attention, you'll notice a ring structure atop the dome roof of the temple, which is what Storm gets to hold onto in the story. :**_

 _ **But the bridge he takes to get there isn't the one you run on to hit that checkpoint and keep trucking. It's actually right next to that bridge, if you're paying attention, you can see it to the left of the bridge you do take, as you take the zip line down. You can see it even better during the slowdown for the trick ramp, it's the stretch of rock directly above the button icons you need to press. But it's farther away and I didn't notice it clearly until the zip line part, however you do get to see the island where it connects to better during the slowdown.**_

 _ **The music Storm hears on top of the temple is Apotos Night (Hub World) sped up by 1.25, to give it more of a dance-y feel. There's an extended 30 minute version on Youtube that you can speed up while you read! You can find it under Apotos Night - Sonic Unleashed Music Extended uploaded by BrawlBRSTMs3 X**_ _ **.**_

 _ **I realize this is an absurd amount of detail for a silly little fanfic, but I care way too much so there's your answer to that X'DDDD See ya next time, where Wave rips Storm a new anus. (OvO)_b**_


	12. Pre-Riders Part 12

Sapphire eyes bore into the grey behemoth who stood precarious and off-guard in his own room. Storm attempted to fathom how a girl half his size could make him feel an inch high, but the glaring mechanic sitting on his bed halted any thought that dared cross his mind. Petrified like a statue, the massive boy stared at Wave, furiously staring him down.

"Welcome back, Storm. How was your day off?" she asked, venomous sarcasm on full display. Storm's tongue flopped in his mouth like a fish gasping for water as he tried to form a sentence. But all he could manage to get out was quiet stammering.

"You dirty, lying sack of CRAP!" shouted Wave without warning, making the large albatross jump backwards. "This is what you've been doing?! Playing hookie?!"

"N-n-n-now Wa-wa-wa- Wave. This ain't-ain't-ain't what it loo-"

"SHUT YOUR TRAP, YOU INCONSIDERATE TROGLODYTE!" the heliotrope girl shouted, cutting Storm off and filling him with fear. She flung an angry finger into Storm's face before she continued.

"You good for nothing brickhead! I know exactly what you've been doing! You got the brilliant idea to skip class and you didn't think I would find out! Well, guess what?!" she asked. Storm inhaled to answer her before the furious swallow pulled out a giant wrench and slammed it on the floor, denting Storm's metal floor.

"I'm 30-no, 50 times smarter than YOU! I can find out anything you do, you ignorant gray blob!" Wave spat, jabbing her finger into Storm's forehead to accent her point. Up until that point, Storm was scared and anxious. But the pressure of her action forced those emotions back and brought a little anger bubbling in his chest, which was the fire he needed to find his voice again.

"Aw, who cares how smart ya are?! Ya don't know what I wuz doin', so jus' lemme explain!" he stood to his full height to get her to back down. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

"Let you explain?! Explain how you wanted to spend an entire two days slacking off?!" she accused, pointing out the window he'd just come back in. "Yeah, go ahead and explain all the heavy things you picked up and put back down or all the people you decided to let smash that rockhead of yours in to prove how tough you are-!"

"Do ya actually want me ta explain or do ya jus' wanna make fun o' me?!" Storm flippantly responded.

"You've been ancestors-knows-where all day and you're gonna try to turn this around on ME!? You are at fault here! Not me!"

"Gods, look at ya, Wave! Why does anybody have ta be da bad guy here?!" the robust avian turned his back on the screaming girl and leaned against his windows. "I jus' needed some space!"

"For 2 days!?"

"I wasn't gone fo' no 2 days!" he spun back around in exasperation. "I only went out tonight 'n it wuz only fo' a few hours!"

"And you didn't feel the need to TELL ANYBODY where you were going?!"

"I- I-I-!" the large teenager stammered, darting his eyes across the room, literally searching for an answer. But none came, he had to admit he didn't think about that. It was a gut move, he wasn't really planning anything, it just sort of happened in that moment. Storm supposed that was strange and she kinda had a point. "Well, no I- I didn't think it wuz-"

"That's EXACTLY the problem! You don't think! And you're punishing me for making you think!"

"Wh-Wh-WHAT?!"

"Don't play innocent with me, you overgrown manchild!"

"Whaddya talkin' 'bout, ya nut case!? How is dis about you?!"

"How is it NOT about me?! You don't like learning about Gear and you don't like me so you decided to skip the whole thing and do whatever it is idiots like you do when you get a da-"

"HEY! Don't call me names, ya stuckup windbag! Ya don't know nothin'!" he shouted, his anger taking complete control.

"What's to know!? You didn't like me actually trying to teach you, which by the way, was YOUR IDEA IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"Well dat's jus' great! Yer puttin' words in my mouth 'n overreactin', as usual! Perfect! Dat's jus' what I need!"

"What do you mean as usual?!"

"Yer da smartypants, figure it out!"

"What do you mean, Storm!? I DON'T overreact!"

"YER OVERREACTIN' RIGHT NOW, YA JERK!"

"How DARE you!"

"How dare YOU! I can't get a word in-!"

"That's mature, that's real matu-!"

"Yer jus' a know-it-all, selfish-!"

"Ha! I'M SELFISH?! Who's the one that just came back from doing whatever he wanted and didn't tell anybody-!"

"I thought it would be fine-!"

"What a surprise?! Look who's wrong AGAIN!"

"What is yer deal, Wave?!"

"What's my-?! UGGGGHHHH!" shrieked the purple feathered girl. She buried her face in her hands as she turned to leave. "I can't BELIEVE I was worried about you, you ingrate!"

"Well I..." he readied another insult but the words collapsed in his throat at the strange sentence. "Wait, what'd you jus' say?" as soon as he asked the question, he felt the familiar heat of his sickness rumbling in his stomach.

"I said you're an ungrateful, musclebound, idiotic-!" Wave started but Storm couldn't let her finish her string of names.

"Were ya... were ya really worried... about me?" he asked again, soft and genuine. And Wave inhaled sharply, no doubt wanting to finish yelling at him, but he could see hints of a blush rising to her cheeks. Before he could confirm what he thought he saw, she turned to his dresser and threw a bag into his face.

The gray behemoth was blinded by the projectile for a second and as he lifted his hands to free his eyes, he heard the unmistakable sound of pills shaking in a container. As the bag fell innocently from his face into his waiting hands, he could make out some writing on the plastic. It was from a pharmacy, one he wasn't familiar with. A sudden clatter brought his attention back toward the fuming Wave, who had just slammed a platter of food on his floor.

"OF COURSE I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU, YOU BIG IDIOT!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Storm's sheepish gaze trailed up her sultry legs, over her lean midriff, past her breasts that nestled her ruby necklace and finally to her irritated, yet flustered face. "YOUR LESSONS ARE IMPORTANT TO ME!" she screamed before marching out of his room and slamming his door with a booming crash.

Storm stared at his door for a moment, still trying to catch up to everything that happened. But an offensive smell caused him to look down at the mess Wave had made. Curiously, he leaned down carefully and studied the meal.

He couldn't believe his eyes, it was an authentic Babylonian remedy. He remembered his mother used to make it for him when he got sick, which barely happened, but when it did, this was what she force fed him. Mashed potatoes cooked in sage oil were smeared on his floor, crushed almonds sprinkled in for good measure. Lopsided lemon slices were stuck in the potatoes and some had soaked into the ginger beer and mouthwash mixture.

It smelled terrible, but it took him back in time to when he was just a little boy, laying in his bed next to his mother as she tended to him. It was a pleasant memory that he had almost forgotten, but thanks to the putrid smell he could be transported back there just as clear as day. And as Storm scooped up the mess with his large hands, he couldn't help but think about how badly Wave worried for him.

For her to go out of her way and make all of this for him, HER, the worst cook he'd ever seen. He was sure she mentioned one time that she would rather die than cook for herself again. And it wasn't just that, he was aware of what they had in the kitchen, and there wasn't any potatoes or almonds or lemons. And if he was smelling the odd collection of ingredients, they were fresh out of sage oil too. Plus, he had drunk all the ginger beer a couple days ago, so... where did all of this even come from?

"Did she... did she go out... and buy all o' dis stuff? Fo' me..?" he asked himself, sitting on his bed as he tried wrapping his mind around the idea. Wave, Ms. Diva herself, went out and bought (or stole, rather) all of this stuff, and the medicine, AND cooked it, AND brought it to his room. Why would she do such a selfless thing? Why would she go out of her way to do anything for him at all? What was going on?

Storm flopped on his back and groaned in confusion. But he soon realized an important detail. Before Wave left, when she said the lessons were important to her, was she... blushing? She was, he recalled. It all happened so fast and he couldn't be sure, but perhaps she was blushing a little. A familiar pit opened up in his chest in response.

"She... she was startin' ta think we wuz friends..." he breathed, wincing at the guilt pounding his heart at the now vivid image of Wave's hurt expression before slamming his door. Storm sat back up, staring at the once sanitary food that he placed on his dresser. Without much thought, he was up and shoveling it into his mouth with two massive fingers. But much to his dismay, the grotesque remedy didn't take away the ache in his chest, nor the fuzzy heat prickling in his stomach.

It felt weird to know that Wave was starting to think enough about him to do what she did, but to also be hurt by his absence and rail on him the instant he got back. Storm was experiencing both the strange illness that he felt around her and the familiar sensation of guilt.

"I messed up bad..."

* * *

 ** _I forgot to mention where Wave went specifically when she got the medicine and ingredients for the home remedy! My bad! The Babylon Cloud was flying across the Mediterranean Sea (rather the Sonic series equivalent to the Mediterranean Sea), which isn't too far from Apotos, a country based off of Santorini, Greece. So since Storm headed to Apotos and Wave headed in the opposite direction, she went toward a tiny city called Kaş, Turkey. Now this can get a bit tricky because there are multiple Kaş around Turkey. So to make it easy, I just picked the Kaş on the coast line. Sure enough, Kaş has several grocery stores, including at least one supermarket, and a pharmacy or two. So that's where she was, the Sonic series's equivalent to Kaş, Turkey. Oh and the Babylon Cloud was around Symi, Simi, Greece (or at least the equivalent to that location in the Sonic series.)_**

 ** _Interestingly enough, Wave had to travel approximately 103 miles to her destination while Storm had to travel approximately 130 to his. Their numbers are just anagrams of each other, I thought that was interesting. It probably isn't. Okay see ya next time XDDD_**


	13. Pre-Riders Part 13

**_Wow, Valentine's Day crept up on me like Hannibal Lector looking for a midnight snack! Uhhh, too weird, right? Sorry about that. Happy Valentine's Day, I got everybody some angst! Enjoy :D_**

* * *

The halls of the Babylon Cloud echoed angry huffs and the frustrated stomps of the teenage girl making her way back to her bedroom. Her teeth were gritted and her gate was nowhere near smooth, her clenched fists swayed at her sides rigorously and when she passed a pile of junk that Jet let hang around, she kicked it with all her strength. As the random clutter scattered across the path, Wave growled furiously before leaning against a wall.

 _That fat, good-for-nothing, tower of ugly! Making a fool of me– ME! I'll kill him! I swear to all the stars in the sky, I'll kill him for this!_ she vowed silently, as she continued her violent trek to her room. All she saw was red now, the heat of her anger burning through her normally in control demeanor. Of all the times that Storm had pissed her off, this one had to top the list. Even when he broke his Gear constantly, made fun of her for being smarter than him, got her in trouble with Jet, he never got under her skin this bad.

This was a whole new kind of pain, something the magenta avian had never experienced before. All she knew was that this was the worst thing Storm could have done, after all of what she went through, the lies she told to Jet so she could flake on him, her dignity, she put it all on the line and for what? To be laughed at by the mouth-breathing dullard? To be insulted by him? Wave furiously shook her head as she finally rounded a corner and set eyes on her bedroom door.

 _I try to do something nice for that idiot, Gods know WHY, but I try to ease his pain a little, help him out! And THIS is the thanks I get, a slap in the face! Like I'm some kind of joke that he can get a good laugh out of! Fat chance! That's the LAST time I do ANYTHING for that stupid, selfish, buttho-_

"Wave!" called the last person in the universe the scorned mechanic wanted to see. Clumsy footsteps rushed toward her from behind, frantically the gargantuan boy tripped and stumbled after her. Which only made her walk faster, the red of her vision deepening further than she thought possible.

Petite hands clutched the ornate handle on her door and forced it open before pulling it closed as swiftly as she possibly could. Storm was several seconds too late, but didn't let that deter him from trying to continue their conversation.

"Wave! Please, open da door!" he asked desperately, his hands pressed lightly against the mahogany. The purple feathered girl turned her back to the door and crossed her arms defiantly.

"You have 10 seconds to get as far away from my room as a slow oaf like you can possibly get or I'm coming out swinging!" threatened Wave, sending a chill down Storm's spine. The venom in her voice churned his already fuzzy stomach. The large, nervous albatross gulped loudly in an effort to soothe his nerves long enough to say what he needed to say.

"I-I-I-I'm s-s-sorry! I-I-I'm re-real real sorry, Wave!" he managed to say through shaky breaths. He hung his head solemnly, as he continued, tentative but forthright. "I-I wuz wrong... I sh-shoulda told ya I wuz goin' befo' I left. I-I didn't know ya'd be worried 'bout me or nothin', honest..."

Wave's righteous fury faltered as Storm confessed his transgressions, something she didn't even think he'd have the wherewithal to do so soon, and in that moment she not only hated Storm. She hated herself. And that hatred brought her fury back with a vengeance.

"You think that's all it's gonna take?! A little 'sorry' here and there and poof, you're in the clear?! What do you take me for, you ignoramus?!" she shouted before flinging the door open, brandishing a giant wrench and preparing to send the hapless brute flying. Her sudden switch to offensive took Storm by surprise and made him jolt backwards, slamming himself into the opposite wall.

"You don't even get it, do you?! Do you?!" the heliotrope bird shrieked, whacking the larger boy all over his body, who shot his arms up to block the sloppy blows. "I could have cared less about you playing hooky 2 months ago!" she continued, her emotions running out of her like a faucet with a broken handle.

"I was the one who didn't want to do the stupid lessons in the first place! I told you we could just pretend like we were working together! I was fine with pretending!" Wave shouted, her strikes slowing down significantly as she went. "We could have kept jumping down each other's throats for all I cared! Just as long as Jet didn't hear us, things could have stayed the exactly the same as they were!"

Her grip on the great weapon tightened until her hands shivered, her teeth pressed together almost to keep anything else from tumbling out of her mouth, guard her true feelings from the childish albatross at fault for this entire mess. She knew he didn't deserve anything but a couple dozen more smacks and an entire lifetime of insults. But a dull ache inside her chest caused her wall of anger to crack.

"But then you... you actually _tried_. And... and that made _me_ want to try too..." she groaned quietly as she brought the wrench to her chest, wanting to curl in on herself and disappear. Unfortunately, she still stood there, trying to cling to her rage like a lifeline. Storm's eyes were wide with surprise as the scary girl who'd just let him have it harder than he'd ever gotten it, averted her gaze as pain etched itself across her face.

"It's so stupid! This whole thing was so stupid! Of course this was never gonna work, of course! I knew this was gonna happen! It was so obviously going to blow up in our faces, it just took longer than I thought!" Storm looked down as guilt suffocated him and nailed him to the wall more than any attack from Wave.

In the beginning, he'd been thinking the same thing in the back of his head. The grey giant knew that it was entirely possible that he was going to screw up one too many times and Wave would get fed up with him. Sometimes it was so difficult, he entertained the thought of quitting longer than he'd like to admit. But he never thought Wave still felt that way.

"I knew it, so why?" was the small voice that brought his attention back to the purple feathered avian that stood before him. " _Why am I so surprised about this?_ " her frustrated eyes closed tightly as she buried her face in her hand.

The normally mordant Wave struggled to keep her composure, opting to retreat into her room before anything else slipped out without her permission. Storm was completely caught off guard once again by his smaller companion and found himself paralyzed and powerless to stop Wave from slamming her door shut. And this time he knew she wouldn't open it to him again, no matter how violently angry she was. He knew he'd messed up, but only now did he realize just how badly.

Wave crawled into her bed and curled her knees to her chin as she wrapped her arms around her legs. She tried to calm down, tried to think about something else– anything else but him and how he made a fool of her. She was just trying to stop the constant nagging of his words in her head, she was just trying to free herself from whatever torment he was subjecting her to. What had she done to deserve this kind of punishment anyway?

 _We were getting better, weren't we? I was hating him less, he was actually learning and retaining knowledge, things were good... right?_ she replayed every moment they were together for over the past 7 weeks. Scanning for a problem, a hitch, something that would clue her in on why exactly Storm had regressed so much. But she couldn't find anything.

All she saw was the happy moments; the first time he remembered something, when they laughed about Jet's antics from a few of their many jobs, the look on his face when he got the fuel converter switched out without breaking anything. His warm smile, gentle voice, nervous touch, and the odd familiarity they'd achieved as time went on. She had even grabbed his hands and used them to help him understand how gentle he needed to be with the equipment once. They had gotten closer than she ever thought possible.

So why did the good memories make Storm's misdeed hurt her even more? Why had the queasiness and blossoming heat she used to feel when she thought about him been replaced with this chasm-like hole in her chest? Why did it hurt to see him when it used to set her at ease? The brilliant swallow couldn't find the answer, much to her dismay. All she knew was that Storm had wronged her so brutally that she never wanted to see him again.

 _How dare you, Storm? How dare you trick me into caring about you, just so you could stab me in the back? I can't believe I thought we were becoming friends..._ she thought bitterly as she hid her face behind her knees and stewed in her pain. Heavy footsteps tentatively approached her doorway and a shadow covered the light that spilled through the bottom of her door. Storm was still out there, she knew it for a fact, and he knew Wave knew he hadn't left.

Yet, he remained silent, both of them did. A palpable, deafening silence surrounded the two Babylonians, neither of them comfortable with extinguishing it. So there he stood awkwardly, searching the small recesses of his mind for something to say that could undo what he'd done. He felt terrible about hurting Wave's feelings, he had to let her know just how bad he felt about leaving her high and dry and acting like a completely dope when she caught him sneaking back in. But for the life of him, nothing was coming to mind. But he was determined to make this right, somehow, no matter how long he had to stand there.

"Proximity Alert. Proximity Alert. Unidentified Aircraft Approaching Hull" an electronic voice called out over the speakers, snatching both of the paralyzed teens from their stalemate. Storm looked up at the speaker down the hall, torn between checking to see who was tailing them and trying to say something to the distraught Wave.

Gods, he didn't want to leave her like this, all torn up and unhappy. He wanted her– needed her to know he never meant to betray her trust or anything. But he knew he had to go see who was bold enough to approach the Babylon Rouges unannounced. They could be dangerous and more than anything else, he had to protect his team. So with a heavy heart, Storm placed his massive hand on the slab of wood separating him from the person he never thought he'd care this much about. For seconds that felt like days, he stood there, seemingly projecting his regret, his remorse, and his desire to make things right through it and to her. And one last desperate time, he repeated himself.

"I'm so sorry, Wave..."

Then he bolted off toward his room for his Extreme Gear to face the mysterious intruder, pushing Wave and her valid grievances with him to the side as he pumped his bulky arms as fast as he could. Once the booming of his footfalls died down, the slim magenta mechanic peak her head out the door to see if he was truly gone. An empty hallway greeted her in response.

Swiftly, Wave slipped out of her room, her board in hand, and ran in the other direction to get to the monitor room. No matter how badly she wanted Storm to suffer at the hands of whoever was approaching them, she knew she had to see who was bold enough to approach the Babylon Rogues at this hour. They were most likely dangerous and more than anything else, she had to gather as much intel as possible on them so she and Jet could devise a counterattack against them.

Her emotional state and feelings were secondary to the safety of her team, that was a fact she had accepted long ago. With grace and ease, the heliotrope avian was atop her board and flying as fast as a whirlwind down the halls of the Babylon Cloud, within seconds she was crossing the threshold into the monitor room. Dozens of screens adorned the space, along with control panels and computer chairs, which is where Wave plopped down and got to work.

A few simple keystrokes and the monitor in front of her switched to a security camera facing the rear of the airship, immediately it focused on an approaching object. Wave zoomed in as far as she could in order to get a better look at whoever was approaching their flying fortress. She studied the obscured aircraft with all her knowledge of aviation engineering and mecha mechanic expertise and the genius swallow still couldn't believe what was coming toward them.

"Is... is that a giant flying egg..?"

* * *

 ** _Wow, I wonder who is coming toward the Babylon Rogues that also looks like a giant flying egg? What a mystery! Anyhow, see ya next time, where I completely rewrite Sonic Riders to make it less stupid. Stay tuned! C:_**


	14. Mid-Riders Part 1

_**So everything before this chapter has been my own story featuring the beautiful birds, but starting now we're beginning the story of the first Riders game. I thought it'd be good to give a couple short disclaimers before we go forward.**_

 _ **Sonic Riders' original story is kinda garbage, not gonna lie. There's a couple dozen things that bother me, so in this fic, I fix those things. You're gonna notice most of those changes and I hope you'll enjoy them! (There's a couple of big ones in this chapter ;) )**_

 _ **Because this fic is focused on the Babylon Rogues, I won't be featuring any scene in the Heroes' story where they aren't present. That doesn't mean I won't rewrite a dozen things for Sonic and pals, it just means that won't be the focus of this fic.**_

 _ **So, keeping all that in mind, enjoy the story as it unfolds!**_

* * *

"For the last time, it's EggMAN!" the portly scientist yelled, for the 5th time in as many minutes. Storm was still having trouble with the peculiar name of the strange human that randomly showed up to the Babylon Cloud. Which is already jarring in and of itself, but adding the fact that the Rouges' zeppelin was currently cruising 10,000 feet in the air in camouflage mode above the middle of nowhere made it even weirder. So tacking a bizarre human flying a strange personalized aircraft with a hilariously odd name was far too much for the simple giant, who casually leaned outside of the comfort of the airship he called home.

The coolness of the thin air bellowed off him like a blanket, his hand firmly gripped the handlebar right outside of the doorway leading directly inside of the zeppelin, the warm lights of the hallway shone behind his bulky body and cast a shadow across Robotnik's figure. The height would have bothered anyone else, but neither Storm nor Robotnik paid the expansive fleece of clouds just below them a second thought. If either of them weren't so accustomed to flying so high in precarious situations, they may have marveled at the mountain peaks piercing the fluffy white blocking their view of the ground. But instead, they both were incomprehensibly comfortable with their location, with Storm focused more on the strange person floating before him.

"I don't care what yer name is, Eggbert-"

"Not even close" Robotnik muttered, incredulous at Storm's stupidity.

"Yer trespassin' 'n if ya don't wanna get pummeled, I suggest ya go back ta da grocery store ya wondered off from" Storm waved a large hand at Robotnik, as if to shoo him away like a bug.

Robotnik buried his face in his hand and sighed deeply, his frustrations barely contained. "Okay, young man, listen closely:" he started, more focused than before, reaching out a hand to articulate his next sentence so he can grant clarity to the situation.

"I. Am not. Part egg. It's just a name" the human huffed, looking expectantly at the gray behemoth blocking his way. Storm simply stared back at him awkwardly before sighing.

"Whateva, ya can't jus' come botherin' us dis late 'less yer lookin' fo' trouble. Cuz, no offense, but if ya fight me, I'll prolly end up scramblin' ya"

"You insufferable simpleton, I told you I'm NOT- ahem! Forget the Eggman thing!" the rage that desperately wanted to engulf the brilliant doctor burned the back of his throat. "I'm here to discuss something with your leader, something of great importance" But Robotnik knew he had to remain calm or he'd squander his chance. So the intelligent scientist held back the fire and put on a sweet, false smile.

"Ya wanna talk ta da boss? Bout what?" Storm asked warily.

"If you would let me FINI- ahem!" Robotnik picked up his facade again hastily, realizing Storm's behavior had caused him to drop it "Oh my dear boy, didn't you hear me? It's something incredibly important to him! To all of you, really!"

"Oh yeah?" the large boy asked, raising his brow in slight excitement.

"Yes. I'm sure this will intrigue all of you, perhaps even captivate your rudimentary senses of imaginations. It's quite an interesting proposition" Robotnik said, knowing full well he was hamming it up. Whatever it took to get the bloated buffoon to let him in. But Storm had fallen silent for a moment, confusion etched on his face.

"... Say what?" the albatross finally said, infuriating Robotnik. But before the venomous words that Robotnik regularly used to cut down people who infuriated him shot out of his mouth, the clever doctor covered his mouth with his hands and turned away from Storm. The dim witted bird leaned over, trying to see what the human was doing so suddenly turning away. But within seconds, Robotnik turned back around, his creepy smile still present under his spiky mustache.

"Look, you seem like a reliable, strapping lad! Why don't you do me a favor and take me to your leader? That way, when I dazzle him, he'll have YOU to thank for allowing me to speak to him?" Robotnik offered calmly, taking Storm by surprise. He thought about it for a moment, his wide hand resting under his beak as he slowly came to the conclusion that the crafty doctor wanted him to.

"Huh... when ya put it dat way, it don't sound too bad! I'll go tell 'em ya wanna talk, jus' wait right here!" instructed Storm excitedly before bolting clumsily back inside the airship.

"That's a good boy! Take your time, now!" Robotnik called after him, his fake smile slowly contorting to a devilish grin, as Storm faded from his view. The gigantic albatross hurried to Jet's office as quickly as possible, the promise of some good news or a new job was just what he needed. After the disastrous blow out that he and Wave had just had, he desperately needed something to go right.

He was a ball of confusion over the whole thing, he'd apologized sincerely, repeatedly, but it didn't faze her. It was like there was nothing he could do to fix this mess, a mess that he admitted to making, but she certainly wasn't blameless either. How was he supposed to know that she would check up on him again, or go through all the trouble she went through to make him feel better, or...

 _OF COURSE I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU, YOU BIG IDIOT! YOUR LESSONS ARE IMPORTANT TO ME!_

Her pained, heavy voice filtering through his mind saying those words he never thought would come out of her mouth was more than he could bare. Storm's teeth clenched as he shook his head of the memory and the unknown feelings it brewed in the pit of his stomach. He tried to refocus on the task at hand, getting to Jet and learning what that Egg omelet guy had to say that was so interesting. Perhaps he should have asked what the interesting thing was before he ran to tell Jet, but something about the way the plump human said it made him think he didn't have to. It wasn't anything new for Storm, he was used to just going along with things.

Unlike...

 _It's so stupid! This whole thing was so stupid! Of course this was never gonna work, of course! I knew this was gonna happen! It was so obviously going to blow up in our faces, it just took longer than I thought!_

There she was again, persisting in his mind, despite his desire to just forget it all happened. As he ghosted across a turn in a hallway, the burly avian remarked that her comment was true. He had felt the same way, but he dropped that pessimistic mindset early on. She held onto it, even though he thought they were becoming friends. Why would she say such a thing if she really thought they were becoming friends like him? More than anything, that bothered him about the whole situation.

Wave was sometimes so irritating he wanted to throw her through a wall, but he thought she'd changed. And it seemed that in of spite his reluctant fondness for her as of late, she hadn't changed. She was still the mean, bossy, know-it-all jerk she always was. And her unwillingness to forgive him solidified that fact in his mind.

So as he approached Jet's office doors, he resigned himself to an evident truth. He and Wave had tried their best, but there was no way they could be friends. Whatever they had during the course of his lessons was gone before he could even identify what it was, and honestly? Storm figured that was probably for the best. Now they would just go back to normal.

His thunderous steps didn't falter in the slightest as he bum-rushed the office doors open, his excitement to share the news with Jet and escape the serious thoughts clouding his mind was overbearing.

"Hey, Boss!" he bellowed loudly, causing Jet to yelp and shoot out of his seat and onto the floor uncouthly. That didn't stop him though, as the towering albatross nearly tackled the mahogany desk and as soon as he regained his balance, banged on it immaturely.

"We got a MAJOR situation!"

"Good gods, Storm! At least learn to knock before entering a room, you rude moron!" her words sliced through the air and rang painfully in his ears. His train of thought was derailed immediately, his breath hitched in his throat, keeping him from continuing. He gathered the courage to turn his head and look at her from the side of his eye.

And there she stood, leaning against the doorframe like the earlier meltdown they had never happened, her expression the same as it was two months ago, before any of the lesson nonsense started. Her crystal blue eyes bore through his, trying her best to insult him with her very stare.

 _Wave_.

So many complex emotions shifted through his brain, as she sidled up to him boldly. And as she got closer, oddly enough, the confusion just... stopped. When he saw her, the strange heat and queasy feelings that overrode his whole being were... gone. Replaced by the usual, mundane feelings he had when she entered a room: dread, annoyance, anger, spite, etc. He was thrown for a loop, he thought for sure that despite his resolve to stop trying to be friends, the sickness wouldn't be gone just like that. And yet...

"Back off from the key before you break it, creep" she spat, reaching for the Key to Babylon Garden in his gargantuan hand. Her insult confirmed in him that things really couldn't be any different than how they'd always been. Her words were pushing his buttons already. He pulled his hand away from her and without even thinking, his response stumbled out of his mouth.

"I wuzn't gonna break it, drama queen" Storm supposed being civil wasn't an option either.

"Sure, just like you didn't break that exhaust fan blade, despite me telling you to be gentle with it?" the mecha genius reminded, crossing her arms defiantly.

"Hey, how 'bout you jus' shut up, Wave? Who asked ya ta come here anyways, huh?" the gray giant glared at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is this suddenly no longer Jet's office? Well, exCUSE ME! I didn't know you were taking residence here! If I did, I wouldn't have come within 100 feet of this place!"

"Yeah? Well dat would make me happier den a pig 'n slop, so go right ahead 'n get away fr-!"

"Oh, be QUIET!" ordered Jet, his eyes squeezed close and his teeth clenched. Both of the arguing thieves stopped talking and looked down ashamed. _Back ta normal, right?_ Storm thought to himself, embarrassed.

"Why'd you burst in here anyway?!" the hawk squawked impatiently. Storm placed the blue cube back on Jet's desk, where Jet snatched it and dropped it in a drawer behind his desk.

"Well, uh, a guy named Egghead... Wait, Egg salad? No, that's not- hang on-" Storm placed a hand on his head and looked at the ceiling in deep thought. But Wave pushed Storm backwards, as best she could, and continued.

"Someone called Robotnik wants to speak to you" Her disrespectful attitude was enough to make Storm growl under his breath and retaliate. His massive hands pushed her head away, causing her to lose balance a bit as the burly teen regained control.

"He told ME that he has an interesting proposition for you!" he said smiling at Jet, while keeping Wave at bay. But the smaller babylonian slipped out of Storm's wide reach and used all her strength to shove his chest. It was a futile attempt, seeing as how much Storm outclassed her in physical strength, but her tenacity to move him caught him by surprise. Storm found himself reeling just a bit from the haughty girl's provocation, angering him even more that before.

"Knock it off! Stop interrupting me, you buffoon!" she shouted, glaring him in the face.

"You started it, geek freak!" he said, staring down at her intimidatingly. The two just stared at each other, seemingly engaging in a heated staring contest. Wave's contemptuous grimace only fueled Storm's rage-filled scowl, the sight of her made him want to punch something. Hard. How could he ever think she looked even remotely nice? How could he ever think she could ACT even remotely nice? In this moment, the massive babylonian felt as if he'd been in a haze for 2 months and finally he could see clearly again.

Wave was the worst. And he was shocked she tricked him into thinking otherwise. Both of them turned on their heels, not wanting to submit themselves to the torment of looking at the putrid face of the person they hated more than anyone else, and stood back to back.

"Hmph!" they both grunted roughly, shooting their faces up as if to say they were now looking down on each other. Returning to normal. Jet simply rolled his eyes and propped his head against his hand as a small knock emanated from his door.

"Ahem, am I interrupting something?" Robotnik asked politely, yet walked into the office as if he was authorized to come inside. His present acclimated the Babylon Rogues to the task at hand. Jet sat up in his chair and absentmindedly checked to make sure that the drawer he placed the Key in was completely closed.

"No, Mr. Robot-"

"Doctor, if you please. Dr. Robotnik" the adult interrupted, lightly bowing as he did. Storm thought for a moment, tapping his head with a thick finger.

"I thought you said your name was Egg-"

"You thought wrong, it's Robotnik" corrected the doctor harshly, not wishing to trigger that discussion all over again.

"Alright, doc. I heard you wanted to see me?" the green hawk said, establishing his dominance.

"Jet the Hawk, leader of the legendary Babylon Rogues. Your reputation precedes you, I've heard so much about your infamous group" the scientist said, putting on that same fake smile he tricked Storm with, as he reached out a hand to shake Jet's. But Jet simply looked at the extended hand and rolled his eyes.

"Ugh, enough. Don't insult me with your manipulative butt-kissing. Skip the flattery and just tell us what you want" the young leader ordered, leaning back in his chair and placing his feet on the desk. Robotnik slowly recoiled his hand and allowed his smile to fade.

"Well now, aren't you the astute little thief? Very well, no more preambles" he said, slightly impressed Jet saw through his ruse. "I heard that you have the Key to Babylon Garden"

Jet raised his brow in confusion. "Huh? Key? What's this 'key'? What are you going on about?"

"Oh ho ho ho ho, really now, you don't have to be so distrusting" the robust scientist laughed. "I already know you have it. The key isn't why I'm here, I'm more interested in the door it opens"

"I'm not about to lead you to Babylon Garden, old man" said the hawk, lazily throwing his index finger up as he continued. "First off, it doesn't exist. It's just a fairy tale all you non-Babylonians have been spreading around" he explained before shooting up his middle finger. "Second, even if it was real, there's no way I'd let anyone know where it was"

"Of course you wouldn't, you don't know where it is either" Robotnik said casually. Jet nearly fell out of his chair at the comment.

"Wha- What?" he questioned, his in control demeanor slipping away little by little. Robotnik motioned to the entire room as he explained.

"Why else would you be running around the world in this glorified hot air balloon if you had access to something as incredible as Babylon Garden? Seems asinine, does it not?"

"Listen here you-" Wave angrily started, but before she could start flinging insults, the taller man turned his head to look at her and put up his hands defensively.

"As I said before, there's no need to be so distrusting. I'm here to help. What good is a key if you can't find the door it unlocks?"

"What? Are you saying... you've found Babylon Garden?" Jet snickered, unsure if he should just toss the old man out of a window for this ridiculous conversation.

"Hmm. I have a lead or two. And I'm more than happy to share them with you... IF you can steal a few gems for me" Robotnik proposed. The cocky avian scoffed as he took his feet off the desk and sat up straight.

"Yeah, okay. Let's say I believe you. You've found the fabled Babylon Garden, sure, great" he mocked, pantomiming as he did. "What kind of gems are worth this precious information?"

"Are you aware of the Chaos Emeralds?" the doctor asked, not fazed by Jet's disbelief in him.

"Aren't those just a myth?" asked Jet with a condescending tone.

"Oh, my dear boy, they're more real than you or I, believe me. I've held them many a time" the human said, reflexively looking at his hands and remembering their power and the sheer strength and dominance he felt each time he held them.

"Then why don't YOU just go steal 'em back yourself?" Jet motioned to Robotnik, still maintaining his condescending attitude.

"Because I have one, small, spiky, blue problem" the scientist replied, as he touched the rectangle on his glove, causing a projection to appear out of his glove and onto the wall behind Jet. "This boy" The projection showed a blue hedgehog, standing proudly. There were multiple stats scrolling as the projection indicated certain aspects of the young man at the focus of the presentation.

"I'm sure you recognize Sonic the Hedgehog. The fastest being on the planet" Robotnik said, causing Jet to once again nearly fall out of his chair.

"Um, what?" the thief said after wheezing awkwardly.

"Sonic is the fastest thing alive, have you not heard of him already?" the tall doctor asked, surprised.

"He's not faster than me. I'm Jet the Hawk! Legendary Wind Master, the top Extreme Gear Rider!" he said, standing on top of his desk.

"Have you ever broken the sound barrier?" Robotnik asked casually.

"Of... of course I have-"

"Really? What about the light barrier?"

"Of cour- wait what?" Jet asked incredulous.

"Sonic is faster than light, have you ever traveled above light speed?" the doctor asked again. The Babylon Rogues simply stared at the human in their midst, their mouths wide open at the notion of this random kid being faster than light.

"That's impossible" declared Jet, once he finally found his voice again. "You're lying, there's no way he's-" Robotnik quickly tapped his glove and the projection changed to footage of Sonic dodging lighting, preforming light speed dashes, and other incredible feats of speed. The avians simply stared slack-jawed as their entire world crashed in front of them.

"He literally travels faster than light. I have studied him for years, he's impossibly fast and incredibly strong and incomprehensibly annoying" Robotnik explained, bitterly grumbling the last part. None of the Extreme Gear experts could comprehend what they were seeing, even Storm and Wave had put their feud aside and looked at each other hoping to find some sort of answer or support or... they didn't know what they were looking for. All they knew was this was unreal, Wave tried to calculate how impossible it was in her head, Storm just immediately assumed it was magic or a radioactive experiment gone wrong or some other comic book reasoning behind it, but Jet.

Jet stared at the blue hedgehog, this Sonic character, with nothing but a strange sense of kinship and anger. Fierce, sweat-steaming, blood-boiling rage.

"Well... so what?!" he screamed, startling his teammates and signaling Robotnik to turn of the projection. "He may be the fastest creature on the ground, but I rule the sky! In the air, with me and my Extreme Gear, he's just a JOKE! His speed means nothing if I'm out of reach!"

"Which is precisely why I'm here" the brilliant man responded, finally getting Jet's full attention. He slowly leaned in closer to Jet as he continued. "Every time I've had the Chaos Emeralds, he's snatched them from me. I've built doomsday weapons, unleashed gods and demons on him, created an army of killer robot soldiers, and he's bested me every time"

"What, ya want us ta kill 'em?" Storm asked, uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was heading. Robotnik simply chuckled to himself.

"Ho ho ho ho, you can't kill him" the human corrected. "Believe me, I've tried everything, it's an impossible objective." he quickly added, under his breath before continuing. "I'm here because I'm trying... a different approach..."

"And that approach is?" asked Jet, hanging on Robotnik's every word.

"Ego. If I can't physically destroy him, at the very least I want him knocked down a couple pegs" the doctor responded, as he backed away from Jet's desk, pantomiming as he continued. "Once you start grabbing the Chaos Emeralds, he'll come after you. And then, as you've said, his speed will mean nothing if you're out of his reach. Then, once the emeralds are mine, I can resume my own ambitions. And for your assistance, I will divulge the location of the hidden Babylon Garden. And Sonic will know what it feels like to be outclassed" he finished, his face steeled with confidence.

Jet remained silent for a moment, before he sat back down in his chair. "Alright... but tell me this, doc; what's keeping me from ordering my boy Storm here from beating the information out of you right now?" he threatened, jabbing a thumb at his bulky teammate, who gladly cracked his knuckles at the notion. But Robotnik was undeterred by this turn of events.

"Because you're going to need me. Whether you believe it or not, Sonic is already standing in your way. That heist you're planning involves a Chaos Emerald. And not only is it guarded by the police, but Sonic himself is there to stop anyone from getting away"

"What?!" Wave shrieked, pressing down on her ruby and sending up a holographic screen which she used to quickly check their newest target's security measures, showing her that Robotnik's statement was indeed true. "This doesn't make any sense! Why are the police and this Sonic guy guarding it?! That wasn't on any of the broadcasts a day ago!"

"That's because I told them you were coming and suggested they hire Sonic as a guard" Robotnik revealed. The babylonians stopped breathing right then. Wave and Storm could barely function in that moment, too many things had thrown them for a loop, they were still trying to catch up. So they didn't notice when Jet threw himself at Robotnik and slammed the man to the ground, his hands harshly gripping the cryptic scientist's jacket.

"YOU WHAT?!" he shouted, louder than they'd ever heard him shout before. Their ears rang painfully at his furious outburst, Storm knew the glass would have shattered from it had it not been plexiglass. Jet was so close to beating the mad doctor to death with his bare hands, Storm wasn't sure even he could pull Jet off of Robotnik in time. And he had to admit, he was terrified of what his boss was going to do next.

Yet, even in this moment, Robotnik hadn't reacted like he should have. In fact, his expression hadn't changed one iota from the moment he spoke about defeating Sonic by playing on his ego. He wasn't cowering, shivering, he didn't even close his eyes as the enraged emerald thief stared daggers into his face and was a second away from literally stabbing the man's face. Instead, he just continued talking, as if he was still standing and having a normal conversation.

"Think, man! He was going to find you eventually, why leave your confrontation up to chance? Why not plan when and where you meet him, before he realizes what you're capable of?" the man reasoned, eerily unfazed by the seething hawk pressing him into the corse navy blue carpet.

"Yer crazy, man!" Storm shouted, disbelief rising inside of him. Who WAS this person he let into their home?

"Perhaps, but I know we can be mutually beneficial to each other" Robotnik said calmly, almost amused at the situation. "You've been searching for Babylon Garden your entire lives, your parents searched their entire lives, and their parents before them. None of them could find it. I'm giving you the chance to achieve a generational goal to return to your ancestral homeland. And, not only will you discover your homeland, you will officially cement yourself as the man who defeated the fastest thing alive in a battle of speed. Your name will be remembered for the rest of eternity by the entire globe. And all of this, for the simple price of a few gems"

Storm, with all of his confusion and fear, couldn't help but marvel at the man beneath his leader. How did he know any of that? Where did this guy come from? And why couldn't he stop himself from being swayed by his words? It was like the human could look inside of a person's soul and see everything they wanted in life, and could convince them that he could give it all to them... IF they served him for a little while. It was haunting, yet incredibly compelling.

Jet had fallen silent and backed his face a couple inches away from the doctor's, his rage still roaring inside of him, but significantly less ferocious than a moment before.

"... And what happens when I steal the emeralds, beat hedgehog, Sonic, and learn where Babylon Garden is, but decide to keep them emeralds for myself?" he asked, calmly.

"You could do that. But you won't" Robotnik responded.

"Oh? And why's that?" the hawk asked curiously, deciding to allow Robotnik to humor him just a bit more before throwing him out the window.

"Because I've known Sonic for a long time and you are just like him. So by extension, I know you as well. And you, my boy, don't cherish riches," he said, waving his hands as if to swat away the words themselves. "Not riches, or fame, or your culture. Those aren't your passions, your true essence. Not even the limitless power of the Chaos Emeralds interests you" the doctor pointed at Jet and nodded his head slowly. "No. You crave something even more elusive, especially for someone of your heightened skill"

"Yeah? What do I crave most, doc?" Jet asked contemptuously, the man's words were reaching uncomfortably deep inside of him. This time, Robotnik moved his face close to Jet's and grinned a knowing grin.

"The thrill of a worthy challenge..." he whispered the words, but Jet felt them hit as hard as if he'd shouted it through a megaphone. Instantly, the emerald feathered boy's rage dissipated, his desire to commit violent acts against the bizarre man in his grip faded like a vapor. All that was left, was the overwhelming sense of self-realization. He pushed himself back to his feet and allowed the sly scientist to stand up, ironing his jacket with his hands a bit as he did.

Storm had never witnessed a more ludicrous sight, he was sure that nothing the egg shaped man could say, nothing even HE could say, would save him from Jet's wrath. Yet, here he was, standing unscathed with Jet's anger completely gone and his attitude toward the man completely changed in an instant. And it was then that the simple albatross knew how the doctor had gotten through to Jet. What he said must have been true. Despite even Storm not really knowing that about Jet, that extremely odd old man knew.

Who in the heck WAS this guy?

"... So we just need to collect all these Chaos Emeralds, right?" he suddenly heard Jet ask, his calm demeanor back as if nothing had happened. Robotnik reached in his pocket and took out a shimmering jewel, more beautiful than any other gem the Babylon Rogues had ever seen. It glowed and once the doctor placed it in Jet's hands, it was also warm. Almost... alive.

"Just two. I've already put my plan in motion. I'm holding a Grand Prix, so the whole world can see you defeat Sonic. A grand battle should have a grand stage, after all" Robotnik mentioned.

"Sounds exciting" grinned Jet, the jewel in his hands taking up most of his attention.

"Oh, it will be. And once you steal the Chaos Emerald and show Sonic up, he'll do anything for a rematch. Including paying the entry fee: one Chaos Emerald a person. He'll bring a couple of friends, who already have the other 4 emeralds in their possession"

"How do you know-" Wave began to ask before Robotnik put a hand up to stop her.

"Like I said, I know Sonic. He'll get them riled up and they'll be all too eager to join him"

"So they'll be handing you the emeralds-" Jet started.

"Without even knowing it" finished the clever scientist. "Defeating you will be their singular focus and while they're stuck trying to beat you, I'll already be the winner" he smugly remarked, a dark smile on his face.

"That's... actually kinda brilliant" the hawk admitted, astounded.

"I'm Dr. Robotnik. I'm all about brilliance" the human declared boldly as he lightly fondled his mustache. Jet stared at the gem in his hands and quietly put it in the same drawer as the Key before clearing his throat and looking Robotnik up and down one more time.

"Alright, doc... We'll be in touch" he agreed, reaching a hand out to shake Robotnik's, to which the plump scientist politely did.

"I thank you, Babylon Rogues" Robotnik said as he walked out of Jet's office, passing Wave first and then Storm, who was right by the doors. "I believe we're going to accomplish a great deal together" he finished as he continued walking away, his back turned to them. And had Storm been more attentive, he would have seen an even darker smile stretch across the strange man's face as he left the room. His impact on the babylonians still remained long after his odd egg-shaped aircraft disappeared into the night.


End file.
